[gjenkins]

I pay 50% in taxes. The largest thing I own (home and land) is mine as long as I continue to pay a lease (property tax). If I stop, I loose it. In fact, any thing that retains value over time is mine only on lease.

[VRW Conspirator]

I pay 50% in taxes. The largest thing I own (home and land) is mine as long as I continue to pay a lease (property tax). If I stop, I loose it. In fact, any thing that retains value over time is mine only on lease.

FYI, real estate is not another term for actual land. I understand it comes from Spanish for Royal Land. IOW, the king's property...FWIW

[Jack Black]

"I pay 50% in taxes. The largest thing I own (home and land) is mine as long as I continue to pay a lease (property tax). If I stop, I loose it. In fact, any thing that retains value over time is mine only on lease."

Or put another way capitalism is for the super-rich in the USA (who can beat the capital sucking taxes by use of lawyers, tax trickery, off-shore corporations, etc.) For the rest of us, we own nothing really. Programs like the 401K keep us poor by limiting the amount we can save tax free towards retirement (and pretend like it is a favor). Any thing that retains value would include savings accounts, which are taxed on interest, stocks and bonds which are taxed on gains and everything else I can think of.

Great point. This is what I would most like to see fixed.