• Clent@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    2 days ago

    So he bought a house for 6k 50 years go and now has to pay 2k in property taxes each year. If he was renting that wouldn’t cover two months.

    Does he also complain that the sales tax on candy bar is more than he used to pay for a candy bar when he first bought his house?

      • grue@lemmy.world
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        2 days ago

        If the property tax scales with inflation and social security is also adjusted for inflation, but your property tax is getting more expensive relative to your social security income, something’s not right.

        spoiler

        I understand that housing prices are outpacing general inflation… that’s kinda my point.

        • Cryophilia@lemmy.world
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          2 days ago

          A big part of why housing prices are outpacing general inflation is constrained supply due to long time homeowners paying artificially low taxes.

    • candybrie@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      The real problem if that’s the scenario is that his social security check is less than $400/month.

        • BeardedGingerWonder@feddit.uk
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          1 day ago

          Which means he’s paying $12k in property taxes a year. That does sound quite substantial. Assuming that’s somewhat equivalent to rates in the UK, I pay around £1400.

          • michaelmrose@lemmy.world
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            1 day ago

            Most places are around 1% of value with many having caps on increases in value or other differences in taxed and actual value. This means his house is worth 1,000,000 to 1,600,000

            If he was really living on 24k he wouldn’t be able to pay 12,000 in property tax. He bought when it cost almost nothing and spent most of his life paying neither rent nor mortgage unlike most of us and has a reasonable retirement.

            He could at any time sell and live better than you or I even if he didn’t have a dime other than the house. Instead he uses his time to whine about his good fortune.

            • BeardedGingerWonder@feddit.uk
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              1 day ago

              You are making a lot of assumptions there but setting that aside, I’m not sure I’m in favour of turfing a pensioner out of their home to pay tax because they lucked out. Surely it’d be better to settle up after they die. It’s not like he’s preventing a needy young family moving in - presumably anyone buying this house would need to be pretty wealthy!

          • dan@upvote.au
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            9 hours ago

            Do you have stamp duty in the UK? We have both rates (yearly) and stamp duty (once off during purchase) in Australia, and property taxes in the USA are roughly the same as rates and stamp duty combined into one.

    • thisorthatorwhatever@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      You have to think more like Trump, LOL. The rich don’t pay any taxes through the use of loopholes. Why should you. Slum lords should be forced to pay taxes, not working class schmo that needs a roof over their heads. Tax the slum lords.

    • bluewing@lemm.ee
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      1 day ago

      I went and argued my taxes at my annual township tax assessment meeting. I was being assessed for a new deck and ramp. That added about $200 to my taxes. What I did do was move the wheelchair ramp out away from the house a bit for better winter time safety and repaired the steps, ramp boards, and railings.

      Should I have been taxed for a whole new deck and ramp when I just did repairs and made safety changes?