If Trump wants to recover the political capital he’s been spending lately there is one thing he might consider advocating for: The elimination of property taxes on people’s homes.
These taxes are an affront to the very idea of property, because if you must pay the government forever to avoid the government taking your property then it is preposterous and sad to speak of it being your property.
It is a rental property.
People do not like to think of it this way, of course. Perhaps because they know, deep down, that if they did then they’d feel owned. Perhaps they ought to feel that way, it being in congruence with the facts. The truth sometimes hurts – in a way that’s good, because it forces us to deal with reality. What does it matter whether you are obliged to pay rent rather than taxes to avoid being kicked out of where you live? The renter is at least not deluded; he knows he’s living in property that’s not his. It is proper for him to pay rent to the owner – because he isn’t the owner. But it is a degradation for a “homeowner” to have to pay to avoid being evicted from what he likes to think of as “his” house.
The degradation is particularly obnoxious when the home is – ostensibly – “paid off.” If so, then why must the homeowner continue to pay? Does it make any difference whether he is paying a mortgage or paying a tax?
Actually, it does. Paying the mortgage is proper. One does not own a thing until one has paid for a thing – and that is what paying a mortgage is. But once the mortgage has been paid – and this typically takes at least 15-30 years for most people – having to keep on paying for as long as you live in that house is just indescribably effronterous.
It is also why so many ordinary Americans are struggling, financially – through no fault of their own. It is hard to tread water – let alone get ahead – when the devaluation of the buying power of money (what is styled “inflation”) is such that you have to earn 20-30 percent more to keep up and on top of that, you have to come up with several thousand dollars every year, ad infinitum, to pay to the local commissars to avoid being homeless in the home you paid-off years ago.
There is no peace, no security. No American can ever rest on the laurels of decades of hard work and say: Well, I finally paid off my home and now all I have to worry about is food and the other basic bills – all of which suddenly become much more affordable when you’re not having to hand over five or six thousand bucks (much more, for many) every year, just to be allowed to live in that “paid for” home.
How much more financially secure would Americans be if they were – or one day, could be – actual homeowners as opposed to pitiable serfs who believe they “own” their homes? The answer is obvious. Homeowners who actually own their homes would also be freed from the need to earn substantial income – to pay the “rent” – and thereby would be able to largely avoid income taxes. Americans who work hard to buy a home – and pay it off – could be in a position, financially, to not have to work anymore by the time they reach 50 or even sooner. This was the position Americans who worked hard while they were young were in once upon a time – before there were taxes on paid-for homes and before there were taxes on income.
Things are, of course, different now. But that could change – and Trump could be the one who changes it. He could at least make the case for ending the tax that has turned everyone into a renter – for life. He could go even further. He could push for a federal ban – or lead an effort for a federal legislative ban – on states and counties taxing people’s homes. The moral case for this is hugely compelling and there has probably been no time in recent memory when the political viability of such a proposal has been better. Americans are being bled white by the cost of things they have to pay for – such as food and utilities and such. If they did not have to pay outrageous (or any) rent on their homes they are not allowed to own, it would be a tremendous counterbalance.
It would also defund the local parasites – including those who operate the government’s gulags for children – which would benefit everyone save the parasites themselves. Home learning makes government gulag’ing absurd. Why haul the poor kids to the gulag and back every day when they can be taught better at home, online?
Trump could also stop sending money to Keeeeeeeeevvvv, Tel Aviv and all those other foreign parasites and return the money to the states and thereby end any basis for the bleat that people’s homes must be taxed to pay for the gulags and other “services.”
It would – truly – Make America Great Again.
But awareness is dawning Trump isn’t really interested in that. As I type this, a yuge fleet stands poised to attack Iran for reasons that have nothing to do with making America Great Again but are quite likely to make things much worse for Americans, again.
. . .
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Ha! That’s funny, “If Trump wants to recover the political capital he’s been spending lately there is one thing he might consider advocating for: The elimination of property taxes on people’s homes.”
I. Do. Wish. …Howevah; seems like,… oh, I won’t say it.
See also: https://www.youtube.com/@RealCandaceO/streams
Property tax is a County or State power, not a federal power.
As if, The Billy Goat Gruff.
That is true, this article is a pipe dream. Local and state spending here in Taxachusetts is out of control, but we still have Proposition 2-1/2 which limits the annual increases. However our evil Governor and insane Boston Mayor along with most Town and City Managers want to end. Many towns are attempting overrides because the Governor reduced local aid by ~ 6%, yet spent billions on illegals. A ballot question passed by 72% to audit the state legislature, yet the Governor, AG and legislature won’t even talk about implementing it. But they love to scream about the “threat to democracy!”
I agree, Steve –
But I will continue to dream – and to try. That said, I foresee a dark time ahead. One that may entail as the only option having next to nothing for these parasites to take from us. A little Airstream in the woods someplace, maybe.
To paraphrase the WEC…
“You’ll own nothing, and be happy!”
(Because (((we’re))) allowing you to live and not be recycled)
Always remember, YOU are the carbon that (((they))) want to recycle!!!
All government is bad, and some forms are worse than others…
YMMV….
There is several problems with housing cost
It’s a list of problems 2 from government remove building codes and taxes
Outside of government is biggest problem to me been looking for a home on reality site can usually see last sold price and it’s always the same story sold 5-10 years ago for 100k now trying to get 350k fucking greed is the biggest problem with housing cost every dirt bag is out to fuck someone else over to get ahead is pathetic world today.
Hi Angelo,
Yup. The house I bought in the mid-1990s for $155k when I was a young guy is now a $600k house. What’s changed? It’s the same house – only now, only an old guy can afford it (and not even then). I could not afford my old house today.
Our local news channel has been looking at “affordable housing” lately. They got a building contractor to say the quiet part out loud – “state regulations especially energy related, add about $30k on average to a single family home”. Gas heating & hot water banned, so it’s heat pumps only including hot water. Enjoy your $3000 water heater when a $800 gas unit will get it done with half the recovery time.
RE: “state regulations especially…”
Yep. For sure.
Add in Fed fiat Dollar printing, PLUS, Fanney Mae backstop, and you wind up with a whole lotta, ‘Up and Down, The Line’.
But then ya got the many people just like andy L. above thinkin’ it’s all about, “Property tax is a County or State power, not a federal power.” Then, ya got a whole population just downright Bamboozled!
../Might as well tie your own noose? ‘Er, at least those of the next Gen? IAnd, the ones after that? Idk.
Property taxes will be a headline problem at some point. A few years back when mortgage rates were bottoming, I noticed many houses in parts of Michigan had a higher property tax payment (in monthly terms), than the mortgage amount. Most first time home buyers don’t pay attention to property taxes but they will. Even a cheap house in southeast Michigan can easily have $500 per month in property taxes.
From what I saw here in this part of Eastern Iowa, they double every 15 years.
…Double!?
So, in 30, they triple.
Bastards. …Each, and every one of them.
The very last thing I want is the Federal government controlling my property taxes.
Why? The locals aren’t screwing you enough, as it is?
Or, are you in an exceptional area with low taxes?
Realtor.com I don’t see that so much.
Don’t forget that double-dipping takes place in some states, with Texas as a prime example. In those states, not only do you pay the city or county a property (real estate) tax on your residence, but you get to pay an additional school tax bill on that same residence. Those aren’t duplicate bills. You have to pay both. The school tax can be more than the property tax.
Also, you are more likely to see a federal property tax on wealth than you are to see any drive to get states to end theirs. If you think that can’t happen, consider that the federal government once imposed an annual tax on personal carriages in the Carriage Act of 1794. Carriages could be considered the forerunners of private automobiles; farm and commercial wagons and the like were not subject to the tax. It was labeled an “excise tax” to get around the prohibition on direct taxes in the Constitution.
The US Supreme Court ruled that the tax on carriages was constitutional as an excise tax in Hylton v. United States in 1796.
This remained in place until the decision in Pollock v. Farmers’ Loan and Trust Company in 1895 overturned it. But Hylton v. United States has been cited in other decisions about taxation, including the decision to uphold Obamacare’s personal mandate to buy medical insurance in 2012.
Watch and see. When the “right” people get in office, we’ll see federal taxes on personal property make a comeback. Those will include your cars and houses.
I didn’t read your comment once you mentioned the so-called, ‘free State’ of Texas. That whole property tax there, Gives me the creepies.
Pardon me. If you would.
My first pass through I thought I saw a post suggesting that federal grants be reduced by the amount of state taxation. Brilliant idea, whoever that was. At the moment, the USSC has ruled that the funds withheld need to be closely related to the specific action the feds are trying to disincentivize. I suspect block grants are too generic to be able to withstand court challenge, so would need to be tailored to much more specific ends. No need to go crazy — the precedent is that it was OK to withhold highway funds if states didn’t impose a 21 drinking age, linked marginally through drunk driving.
Not 100% sure I want the feds using education grants as a hammer against property tax, though. We’ve all seen threatening to withhold education grants are how Common Core got through.
Really, You’re, “Not 100% sure” you want, “the feds using education grants as a hammer against property tax,”???
So, you’re 95% sure, you do?
“If conservatives stay at home and refuse to protect any piece of territory beyond their front gate, they will lose everything. It’s inevitable. The side that wants to win will always have an edge over the side that “just wants to be left alone.”…”
https://alt-market.us/its-time-to-accept-that-civil-war-2-0-has-already-started/
I dunno, should we get into Yoga? And Just, embrace, The Tax?
Sounds like fun, what’s your tax, if it doubles in 10 yrs?
You can’t make housing more affordable by reducing the costs to home ownership. Your qualifying is based on PITI, Principal + Interest + Taxes + Insurance. All that happens if you get insurance or taxes or interest down is more people qualify for the too-small existing housing stock.
Other than deportations, there is little to no non-drastic way to reduce demand other than encouraging marriage, getting more people per household. The only way to increase supply is by building more houses.
Hi Steve,
Another way to make housing more affordable would be to eliminate zoning laws. There are none in my county – and this is very rare. It enables a large house to be on one lot and a much smaller house – or even a mobile home – on the next lot. I could – hypothetically – build a couple of tiny houses on some of my land and rent them to young people, retirees or just people who want to live cheap.
No zoning in my county, either, except if I wanted to plop down heavy industry, a bar or a strip joint, which need permits. My particular property has a couple of covenants, though, restricting me from filling it with manufactured homes or trailers, which at least used to be commonplace in this neck of the woods.
But, yeah, zoning and greenspace regs would be another way, though it still requires construction of said homes. No way to have more houses than to build them.
Amen!
And: Why the Hell is it anyone else’s got-damned business how you build your house on your land? The requirement to get permits and be “up to code” are cost increasers. Mind, I am not saying I am opposed to standards – or inspections. Only that they be on a non-compulsory basis. If a guy wants to live in a Home Depot shed and use a compost toilet and rain barrels to catch water, that is huis business – and not mine or anyone else’s.
Precisely, Eric.
At very least, someone should have to complain about something you have or you’re doing on your property, and have a legitimate complaint (i.e. there is some form of danger or nuisance to those *not* on your land). Then, you should have an opportunity to rectify that issue without some onerous fees being imposed, if it should be found to be valid.
Also, if you could hire someone who isn’t a part of the state or county to certify your buildings are “up to code” or whatnot, without being coercive or forceful, that would be a definite improvement over the status quo. Some people might take this route voluntarily for the purposes of later sale or insurance.
RE: “to eliminate zoning laws”.
…You’re, a dreamer.
I like it. I wish it were so.
Our overlords, and the, no-end-to-doin’-good’s all around us, …they, oh they, I don’t think they wish that were so.
Over many dead bodies of their own creation, they don’t wish it. Seems, they won’t stop at nuthin’ to stop it from being so.
…Maintaining property values, & tax base, and all.
You know, the important stuff of life.
Eric, you might want to get ahead of the inevitable real estate and financial crash that’s incoming, and go ahead and create your own mobile/tiny home park, on your land, with electric, septic, etc. It could provide you a comfortable retirement income stream, and give the the ever growing population of poor people in rural America a reasonable place to survive and hopefully thrive.
Just a thought, have seen this work for others…
Here in WA the school system rules the roost including the state Supreme Court. Taj Mahal school buildings, all a unique design then on to the outrageous salaries The School Cabal are paid. Do some research via Open the Books, also city and state salary data on their websites.
The jr high I went to in the late 60s is getting replaced. A grand monument to substandard eduction for a cool $91,000,000
Hey they’re getting geothermal wells too, who hoo. “Skanska has signed a $91m contract with Highline Public Schools for the Pacific Middle School Replacement Project in Des Moines, Washington”
PS: The build cost per sq ft of this gem is $689, over double what average rate for a commercial office building in a high build cost area such as WA state.
Indeed, Sparkey!
My old high school was a very industrial kind of joint; the new high schools look like college campuses used to look.
Oh this, who IS, “the school system rules the roost”?
The answer is as ugly as The Twilight Zone.
Monsters.
Never gonna fix property taxes until public school funding get’s changed. Not going to happen.
My east taxes is 75% school, 25% town. Mega $.
IMO, need public school competition is the only way to fix it long term.
Hi Chris,
I always challenge the idea underlying all of this: Why should “X” be compelled to finance the “education” of “Y’s” children? It’s such a greasy form of gaslighting to make this about “the children.” No, it isn’t about them. It is about parents being responsible for their children. Educating them is one of those responsibilities. Don’t offload it to the government. Or use the government to make your neighbor pay for it.
Agree Eric, but the teachers unions in blue states are in some respects more powerful than the legislature.
I’ve always thought that charter schools could effect change. And in some states if you want to go to a charter school, the state/County pays a certain amount towards it.
But let me tell you, I’ve been through one of these in my red state. A public school system was failing mostly because the people have to vote for any increases every time and they almost always vote NO. So a charter school wants to buy the middle school that the public system can’t afford anymore. The place erupted. Everyone knew that if the charter school came to town, the public systems was doomed. And this is 80-20 right vs left place. It mostly erupted because the gov workers erupted, and then the states teachers union (from the only blue city in the state) pulled out all the stops and the propaganda was through the roof. It tore the little town up for 1-2 years. Guess what? They won, no charter school.
It’s the same story here in my little (red) county, Chris –
The government school apparat is powerful because most of the people in the county support it; i.e., they support forcing everyone to pay for it – including people like me who don’t want to pay for it because we don’t use it or approve of it. Never mind that. It’s a “community obligation” to make sure “the children” get an “education.” I’m a puppy-kicking monster for suggesting that educating kids is better done by parents who take an active interest in raising their own kids – and for denying the right of anyone to make anyone else pay for their “education” in government schools.
The first step, that my red state did, is to offer parents something so they can afford to send their kid to a private/charter school. This gives a potential new charter school hope and a business plan to open one up.
I don’t know how many states offer this. I’ll guess, not many.
Then the local public system has to compete, which usually means they are doomed.
Hi Chris,
Yes, but I wish more parents would simply raise and educate their kids rather than offload the duty to the government (paid for by the rest of us). One thing I learned growing up is that government school is mostly a waste of a kid’s time. I am not exaggerating when I say that by the time I was 12 or so, I was fully capable of doing what I do to earn my living. I could have gone directly to college. My parents provided me with a wealth of books and encouraged me to read – which I eagerly did. They sent me to a private school through sixth grade. When I went to public (government) school, I slept through most of it.
Yep! Looking back the three years of high school were a total waste of my time. Only two things stand out – learned to type properly and how NOT to blow myself up with an oxy/acetylene welding set. Seriously, that was it. Could have learned those things back in 8th grade.
PS: regarding “how to write”, my 4th grade teacher was outstanding a true educator. We learned report writing structure including making an outline and footnotes. Yes 4th grade, 1965.
She also handled a fidgety “problem kid” herself, and humanely included the whole class in helping him with a self control issue. She saved that kid years of grief – no ADD meds, no PHd counseling. He was really squared away by the end of the school year and a pretty good bud of mine.
Hell, Sparkey, you learned to weld in high school?! That is far beyond what they teach kids these days.
Hey what’s old is new again! Last year my grandson took a welding shop class 10th grade, including tests on welding quality.
When boys came around courting our several daughters, one of the questions I would ask them was “Have you ever drilled a hole in metal?” Got one Yes and a LOT of Nos on that one. And none of the Nos ever said “No sir, I haven’t done that, but I’d like to learn. Could you teach me how to do that?” One guy had his own (small) lawn care business, and he didn’t even know how to sharpen a lawn mower blade, or seemingly, that they would ever need to be sharpened.
I probably wouldn’t have read 1984 and Brave New World on my own at that age. But my dyslexia made reading and math the way it was taught extremely difficult. Once I taught myself how to read it became a pleasure. And once I learned to use a word processor to help me spell and structure sentences it fixed a lot of other things. Heck, programming my Trig homework on an Atari 800 meant I could graduate on time and with my fellow students. Otherwise I probably would have had to attend summer school for math again.
But I didn’t learn any of that in high school.
To clarify, we were assigned both books in English class, and expected to compare and contrast them as the authors intended.
Imagine today’s education “system” assigning subversive novels like that!
If Darth Tangelo were to do anything significant towards ending property taxes, I’ll eat my laptop with fucking milk and sugar. As others have said, however, it would likely take a Constitutional amendment.
He’s not here to help us, if you haven’t gathered. He helps himself and his dynasty, primarily, along with the MIC and Israel, other billionaires and anyone who will pay-to-play. The rest, if anything, is just placation for one sect or another.
Speaking of ‘affordability,’ Ed Dowd offers a timely reminder:
‘The first risk is a US housing crisis/white swan event. Immigrants came in and filled the gap. That’s now stopped. Deportations are going to continue over the next year to two years, and that is going to continue to put pressure on homes.
‘Affordability is a disaster. Incomes do not allow people to buy homes at these prices.
‘The only way to correct this is home prices dropping 25% to 30% over the next two years. That would set us up for a recovery.”
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/never-seen-risk-my-career-ed-dowd-warns
Let it bleed.
Agreed.
“The only way to correct this is home prices dropping 25% to 30% over the next two years.”
It has to drop, otherwise, every Gen X/Millennial parent will see their kids living with them forever.
That could easily happen if deportations, mass and voluntary, keep going. Yeah, it wouldn’t be a very big number of homes becoming available, but we know from expensive durable goods, like cars and housing, that the response is not linear. The very first seller who can’t get prevailing rates starts the decline in motion.
Trump appears to be doing some good things and some very bad things. IMO the way Trump operates is that he mitigates the very evil things he is doing (ice goons sicced on us, war for Israel, Israel weapons sales no congressional approval) by throwing his conservative-libertarian base some bones like ending property tax – which he can not do because that is a state and county issue.
Trump says he wants to end corporate from owning homes – this is after Blackrock is divesting. Who allowed these Wall Street firms to buy up large tracs of homes and rent them back to us in the first place? It is a total abuse of Fed free money creation. It takes real work to build homes, it takes nothing to push on a computer key and create 100 billion in credit that can be borrowed at low rates to buy up the entire nation.
My take on the upcoming Iran-Israel war and the outcome:
https://www.unz.com/runz/say-goodbye-to-the-second-amendment-and-most-of-the-others-as-well/#comment-7488715
According to this article, this is the 3rd time Trump bypasses Congress to give Israel free weapons:
https://news.antiwar.com/2026/02/01/trump-again-bypasses-congress-to-advance-major-weapons-package-for-israel/
“The Trump administration has approved $6.5 billion in new weapons deals for Israel that include Apache attack helicopters and military vehicles, a step Secretary of State Marco Rubio took without waiting for the normal congressional review process.”
Sales? Israel never actually buys anything from us, we give them grants and they never pay back. It is really disgustng how dishonest the press is in describing weapon “sales” to Israel. They are giveaways.
In the MEAN time, homeless are sleeping in the snow, while bilions and billions and billions are given to hell.
And the ’emergency’ declared by the Cuban dwarf to bypass Clowngress speaks for itself: just in case the Orange Onanist decides to bomb the living piss out of Iran, then little Israel needs those weapons right away to ‘defend’ [sic] itself against the bad, bad Persians who irrationally hate them. /sarc
Watched a Tucker interview with one of the Young Turks guys. Don’t know if you’re a fan or not but the theme was interesting, he and Tucker agree this Israel First BS has to stop. Talked about the Gaza genocide, the constant flow of money and arms while we’re broke. “ let Israel borrow the damn money. We have to borrow it, send it to them, and we pay interest on it forever.” Another point – we save your ass then and now, liberate camps in WWII, instead of “thank you” it’s “give us more, you owe us!” WTF?
Also talked Jason Pollard & that sellout Huckabee cozying up to him. Our ‘greatest ally’ gave our nuke secrets to the Russians, not a peep from the sellout media. “They don’t cover the news, they cover UP the news”
I saw that clip. I’m not a fan of Cenk Uygur, but he made some very cogent (and really unassailable) arguments about the dirty tactics employed by Israel/Zionists. Their discussion is probably one of the scariest for the oligarchs, because it’s an example of the so called Left and Right coming together to find common ground against them.
Many commenters have opined that the sovereign states have sole authority over property tax. This is true, except for the privileges reserved in the US Constitution to the people, or the feral government. The second amendment, in fact specifies the right of the people to own, carry, and use military arms, hence keeping that right outside the greedy clutches of the fed, and the states, and the locals. Any rules to the contrary may and must be blithely ignored.
But given what has happened to the federal constitution, there is really no barrier to reducing state grants and distributions by the amount of any property tax collected.
Also, the abolition of property tax could be cushioned against “public sector” criticism by replacing it with sales tax on property. They already do it with our used cars, and such an arrangement (e.g. 8% on a $1000000 sale would be $80000 which could simply be folded into a amortization schedule with a clearly defined end point- would continue to fund necessary services like snow removal and holding cells for illegal aliens, etc.)
New York already has state sales tax on property:
Base Tax Rate: 0.4% of the sale price.
Mansion Tax: An additional 1% of the purchase price on residential properties for $1 million or more.
Higher Value Rates: For residential properties of $3 million or more, the state rate increases to 0.65%.
NYC Specifics: In New York City, an additional city transfer tax applies: 1% for $500k or less; 1.425% for over $500k.
But all this, of course, is on top of confiscatory property taxes. It’s the final shiv to the stomach you get, when you bail the hell out of The Bagel.
Yep, New York is the poster boy for why Democracy is a horrifying idea which the founders took great pains to allow us to protect ourselves from.
Illinois, C[r]ook County and Chicago, too.
Don’t know the specifics, but Brandon has been talking about increasing it.
I recall seeing a biting critique earlier characterizing this article as “whining and groveling” to the Orange Man to cut taxes at a state and local level (or something to that effect).
I’m wondering why it’s no longer appearing here now.
characterizing
Fixed it for you, ML!
Regarding the post you mention. It wasn’t the post so much as the poster, who is a troll who uses multiple IP addresses to get around the spam/moderation screens and posts little more than personal attacks, which I get rid of once it becomes clear that’s all they are.
To address the critique: I was not “whining and groveling to the Orange Man to cut taxes at a state and local level (or something to that effect).”
I was attacking property taxes.
I agree you weren’t, but was just wondering where the post went. Aside from the insulting tone, he did raise a valid constitutional point about addressing a state and local matter with an appeal to the president of the U.S. gov.
I like to think we can smoke out those who come here in bad faith. Aside from that, I’m always willing to hear challenges from anybody regarding my beliefs and apparent (and perhaps unknown) biases. I can learn a lot from them and it helps keep me in check.
100 percent, Mister!
I don’t take issue with what he said but rather the serial personal abuse. It’s not that I’m fragile. It’s that I don’t want this joint to degenerate into a poo-flinging contest.
Just a few questions for ya’ CC. Is your room clean? Have you picked up you dirty underwear and tossed it in the hamper? Do you have a job?
CC: I won’t fight you on the merits of this post, but if you were the one that posted the comment about “whining and groveling,” I think you might try showing just a little respect for our host.
As mentioned above, I thought it did raise a valid constitutional point about addressing a state and local matter with an appeal to the president of the U.S. gov. However, coming across as insulting is really counter-productive if you’re trying to make a point in good faith.
Honestly ML I’m sorta done trying to operate in good faith here.
When you try to respectfully make a point counter to the author, I find that the personal attacks like those from Mark in BC come out of the woodwork rather than respectfully debate the issue.
Then if you come in and do some name calling yourself, all of a sudden the very same people that were making ad hominem attacks want to try to play the high ground and pretend they wanted an honest debate in good faith.
Good on you ML for noting the casual deletion of comments. I’ve been seeing it happen here for years. Author pretends to be a free speech absolutist when it suits him but when disrupters here become too much of a nuisance EP just deletes them.
I’d be OK with that based on libertarian principles. EP does own the site and can do as he sees fit. But, to then be a hypocrite and write repeatedly about X censoring and shadow banning him . . . Well that’s just a bridge too far.
Good luck with that, especially here in Virginia since the coronation of governor “Eva Pantsuit Peron” and her merry band of thieves in the legislature that are conniving & scheming to make the state “affordable”!
Oh, need I remind you of the 24/7 wall to wall coverage of the teary-eyed (on cue when cameras start rolling) children
being denied an education, nutrition and a safe place from those mean parents and selfish business owners who would dare “deny the children”!
The taxpayers are not respected and abused by those who live lavishly off our labor due to the fact that there are more takers than forced givers and those takers out number us come election time.
No, the so-called opposition GOP (Gang of Pussies) with the spines of garden slugs ain’t going to endorse much less pursue the idea that private property is just that…private and off limits from government of any level.
Unfortunately, the forced “contributions” will continue unabated with even more being demanded until the ratio of parasites/producers hits “critical mass” and the whole damned system collapses like the fall of the Soviet Union & the Warsaw Pact.
True, Allen –
I have been able to avoid most of the toxic effluvia emanating from Northern Virginia – which controls Virginia. But even down here in SW Va, there is a critical mass of “conservatives” who support the taxing of property – just as they support the “war” on some drugs and all wars fought on behalf of Israel. Cue that Lee Greenwood song…
Cut the Lee Greenwood song! The song more appropriate for this time is by the band Jackyl “Back off Brother”.
If you’re never heard it , give it a listen.
We need a whole lot less Lee Greenwood and a whole lot more Robert E Lee. Why are we waiting so long to do what is inevitable?
Morning, Ernie!
You ask: “Why are we waiting so long to do what is inevitable?”
Well, probably because someone’s got to be the first to walk point…
Good morning, to you amigo.
Well, we have a guy named Donald trying to do that…
Ashley walked point. . .
And, speaking of the “Drug War”. Will the state now finally figure out how to sell pot since the R’s are not in control?
Hmm…how long will it take..gotta keep the police state happy…
Legalize = grift op. An Oregonian
Criminalize = MEGA-grift op. An American.
A bad situation, all the way around. Unless NAP violations occur, it’s best if the state just keeps out of people’s private lives, altogether. Likewise with the state ‘selling’ their ‘services,’ too. Government has a bad tendency to criminalize freedom in order to ‘benevolently’ sell it back to us at an exorbitant markup.
Hi Mark,
Well, in VA, it looks like Spanberger is going to allow the serfs to buy pot – not just through the “medical marijuana” scam – where you have to pay a quack to affirm you need pot to cope with some ailment before you’re allowed to buy it. I suppose we ought to be grateful….
‘[Trump] could push for a federal ban on states and counties taxing people’s homes.’ — eric
He could. As you’d expect from the Party of Lincoln, trampling state sovereignty. Taxation is one of the last safe harbors that states control. Most rely on a three-legged stool of income, sales and property taxes. But the eight states with no income tax lean on sales and property taxes all the harder.
Dial back the clock 60 or 80 years, and all three types of state taxes were lower, as percentages. What happened? Two big things, courtesy of the US fedgov. One is Medicaid, for which states are obliged to share the cost. Another is fedgov intrusion into edumacation, through ‘laws’ such as IDEA which oblige states to provide costly special education. ‘No child left behind,’ as the Retarded Chimp used to screech while jamming a banana up his rectum.
Property taxes are a patent violation of human rights. But until fedgov unfunded mandates are repealed, states that aspire to end property taxes (proposals are pending in several) will be obliged to boost their sales and income taxes.
Property taxes vary quite materially among states. For roughly the same size house and lot, I pay one-fifth as much property tax in the southwest, compared to the northeastern tax hell that I fled. Such tax hells fuel unending large-scale migration out of the northeast — especially among retirees.
A partial but underused relief is a homestead exemption: lower-valued residences owe no property tax below a threshold. Today, the threshold needs to be in the $200,000 to $500,000 range, depending on location, to benefit those living in modest quarters.
Louisiana has such an exemption, but it’s only $75,000 — barely up from $50,000 in 1980, when my tax bill on a new $55,000 suburban house was … six dollars a year … and a significant portion of people actually did escape property tax. But inflation and fedgov mandates eroded that brief window of freedom. 🙁
Now my advice for those who die
Declare the pennies on your eyes
‘Cause I’m the taxman
Yeah, I’m the taxman
And you’re working for no one but me
— The Beatles, Taxman (1966)
Hi Jim,
My sister in Sarasota, Florida pays about $3k a year in property taxes on a house slightly larger than mine, with a lanai and pool. My current rent to the local govco is presently $13k, ratcheting ever upwards. I always vote NO in local elections on every boondoggle proposal, but somehow there are enough kool-aid drinkers to get them passed. It’s discouraging.
There aren’t necessarily that many Kool Aid drinkers, but if you study the process you’ll see how they keep winning. They schedule the taxes on off year, and special elections, publicize it among the public employees and give them half a day or a day off to go vote. Joe Taxbitch has better things to do than go vote on a work day, especially if he isn’t really aware of the vote.
It’s crooked as hell and so easy to do.
And, if a levy does fail, do they accept that, and say “The people have spoken.” Hell, no! They put it back on the ballot again and again, until it passes.
Property tax 101:
Decent 1br rental in S Oregon is $1750
Decent 1br rental in N Austin is $750
A really nice part of Austin too
Good post.
Repeal the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 and bring back homesteading.
Oh, but the environmentalists would howl… because they believe some BLM bureaucrat can better manage the environment than someone who actually owns it. And the grifters would howl… because they milk public lands of their minerals for millions and pay a pittance in fees. And the rich folks up in Aspen would howl… because their property might not be so precious anymore.
Think about it, from 1862 until 1976 the federal government’s stated policy was that if you improved the land after 5 years you owned it. That meant the federal government was aware that it couldn’t improve it. But now the nature cult has decided that man’s considerable talent for terraforming is a liability not an asset. So the lands must be sanctified and removed from the marketplace for all time. Of course it doesn’t hurt that by freezing the amount of available land at whatever accommodated the population of 1976.
But just because I want to prove a point, by freezing the amount of available land at 1976 levels, the growing population had to repurpose land for housing that was once farmed or mined. Most people won’t live in an emptied out strip mine without a lot of cleanup, so farmland was taken. Just looking at census data from 1970 to 1980, the number of households grew by about 27%. But since 1980 the population grew nearly 50% and number of household almost 60%. This means there are more people living alone than in 1960, but it also means we’re doing more with less land available. And this plays out in things like lot sizes, where most newer neighborhoods have postage stamp sized lots with maximum building sizes. I grew up in a neighborhood that was platted in the early 1960s. The yards were large enough for pickup stickball games, a few of our neighbors had pools, and many had small gardens. This was a suburban neighborhood, not out in the woods. We had space around us too, just land that someone owned but left undeveloped (actually the Texas Eastern pipeline ran through some of that land meaning the easement will never be developed). Who the heck wants to rase kids in a tiny home on a tiny lot?
‘Who the heck wants to raise kids in a tiny home on a tiny lot?’ — ReadyKilowatt
When I worked for a Japanese corporation, a surprising number of my colleagues quoted an inflammatory observation by Sir Roy Denman, a well-heeled British eurocrat:
‘The Japanese are workaholics who live in rabbit hutches.’
It stung, because it was true. I did a five-month stint in a Kawasaki plant in Kobe. Our typical workday was 8 am to 8 pm. Then I returned on the train to my hotel in Osaka, where I had about three feet to maneuver on two sides of the bed — and a tiny fiberglass modular bathroom with a tiny tub.
But tiny living quarters need tiny vehicles. Et voila — the kei truck! Spotted a 4×4 kei truck yesterday — a Daihatsu? — getting a boost start. As in my old Chevy G10 van, it looks like the engine compartment is located inside, between the front seats:
https://ibb.co/5WL7yqKW
Kei trucks good, monster pickups ba-a-a-a-d-d-d!
While I agree with eliminating property taxes but you know the County is just going to get the money they “need” some other way because those gold plated County buildings can’t be funded through bake sales and raffles.
Good luck on getting a County to downsize when they can tax you as much as they like but hopefully if the actual property taxpayers got to control the budget as opposed to the section 8 crowd things might actually happen because the people who would pay for it might have a real say in the matter! And then you wake up…….
Poverty owners and section 8 dwellers are both human beings. Falling under the spell of psychos division bell has paved a highway straight to hell.
Hi Rain.
If you are paying property taxes you should have more say in how your taxes are spent than someone looking for a handout. I worked hard, bought a house and the taxes keep going up.
I’m been on lots of projects that drug tested the workers; how about we initial test and then randomly test people who get welfare money? Scream all you like that it isn’t fair but if workers have to put up with those rules so can the welfare recipients.
PS- poverty owners who pay property taxes have rights too you know.
[clutching pearls] But, but, but where will the money come from? How will the government have enough money for all the “services?”
End taxation on people’s homes and do with less. I don’t want your “services.”
But, but, but I can’t spend time with my children at home because I have to go to work? Ahhh, so it’s really day care that we’re all forced to pay thousands in property tax for.
Do I wish that property taxes would be lessened or outright abolished? Yes, but that is not the job of the federal government. Property taxes are implemented under the Tenth Amendment giving control to the states. It would take a Constitutional amendment. The states and localities would never agree to it because it is their money cow. The first state that would omit taxes on personal property would likely see a swelling in home ownership.
Hi Raider Girl. Glad to hear from you as its been awhile. That’s what I thought reading the article also. As that old saying goes: “Would a TAX by another name irritate as much?”
Property taxes feed a lot of bond ghouls -er- brokers here in Texas, and they aren’t going to give that cash flow up easily, especially for issues regarding education spending. $80 million football stadiums and pro quality performing arts facilities don’t come cheap.
The school board taxes on my house outside Austin are as much as my entire tax bill in Florida for the same size house, adjusted for inflation.
Meanwhile, down at the school board meetings, the local high school actually pitched a parking garage as part of their stadium package.
Here’s a blast from the past: ‘Texas first adopted a state sales tax in 1961. Enacted during a special session, the tax went into effect on September 1, 1961, with an initial rate of 2%. It was designed to replace various miscellaneous excise taxes on items such as radios, televisions, and boats.’
What happened next? The ‘ratchet,’ of course: the rate increased to 3% in 1968, 3¼% in 1969, 4% in 1971, and continued to rise in subsequent decades.
Hi Jim,
As a matter of principle, it seems to me that all taxes amount to legally sanctioned theft justified – in the minds of those who favor them – that some desired “service” (some service they desire) gives them the right to force others to pay for it. Once that is accepted, then it devolves into a hyena fight over who pays how much for what. Not whether anyone ought to be made to pay.
For sure. Maybe the only possible way out is an absolute reliance on user fees, but I don’t see any state even remotely interested in doing so. Even places like Wyoming and South Dakota have more than enough people screaming, “But what about the poor?” And too few who can imagine things like private roads.
Hi Steve,
Yup. I wonder how much it would cost to ship my Trans Am to Patagonia? And do they allow such expressions of unabashed ugly American-ism down there?
Hi Eric,
You had better think twice about moving to Patagonia. Apparently, a bunch of Israeli immigrants have moved there and are busy setting fires to the place. It appears that they intend to buy up the land and turn it into a second Zionist homeland.
Same here Jim,
Taxachusetts first came up with a 3% sales tax in the late 60’s that was supposed to help “relieve” property taxes. You already know what happened – sales tax is now 7% and property taxes higher than ever.
Believe it or not, fifty years ago New Jersey had no state income tax. It passed one in 1976, with a top bracket of 2.5%, because of a notorious state Supreme Court decision about equalizing school funding (think of the children!).
Now the top marginal rate is … 10.75%. But the ‘special needs’ urban schools are still crappy, no matter how much money is thrown at them.
This cynical shakedown, copied nationwide, becomes tiresome.
And, likely a climb in real estate prices as the earnings cap would increase by 1-4 percent. Instant bump for private equity. I am of the opinion that only individuals should not have to pay taxes on property. As corporations have financial acces and privileges that no one individual can conceive of availing themselves of, they should have to pay double the rates that individuals currently pay on their “multiple properties (usually one or two)”
This system is far out of control I know the incondinent orange israel licking dipshit won’t do a damned thing.
I agree with you, Swamp!
The whole “corporate” thing is just another dodge anyhow. How can a legal fiction have the same rights (as well as less liability) than an actual, flesh-and-blood human being?
If you listen to a lot of the “pay no tax” people they say that income is defined as a “corporate profit.” They are right in principle. In practice, it’s something different. We operate under a system of theft by conversion and outright coercion. There is only one way to resist that.
Until the jury system works correctly, until my property rights are absolutely protected against the soft hearted generosity of a jury of wine moms, retirees, government workers, and welfare cases, my corporations are absolutely vital shields.
How are they shields? What benefit to an individual. Not trying to debate, but I’d like to learn more.
They give some indirection, they make it easier to divide up your personal property and profits to keep them unavailable from the pirates of the legal system.
What’s that, you won a million dollar lawsuit against xyz corporation for firing a trouble making and incompetent employee? There is nothing to award, all the money it made has been paid out, and I guess it is now bankrupt and dissolved. They’ll have to make due with the company owned outhouse behind the leased office.
Though in my case, I don’t have employees as it’s easier and more rewarding to adopt children in my state of residence. But I program large systems that anctually DO things, and in the extremely remote unlikeliness that I screw up I could create a catastrophe costing many millions of dollars. The insurance for this is prohibitive (medical malpractice level) and since the few hundred K a year my business generates doesn’t support a 700k/year insurance policy, if my customers want the work done, the need to accept that.
Hi swamp,
I agree with the points that Ernie made, but also companies exist for continuation. Would Walmart be around today if it was only owned and operated by Sam Walton? No, it would have died when he did.
Entity structure not only allows for flexible ownership changes, but raising capital, too. Compare being a sole proprietorship vs that same individual owning a corporation. It is easier to apply for loans, find investors, and receive grants if one is a company and not just Pete the Plumber.
I won’t bore you with taxation benefits, but an S corp pays less in taxes than a sole proprietorship. Depending on the profitability of the company this could be a couple thousand to tens of thousands a year when one compares apples to apples.
Amen. And a C-Corp can usually be structured to do better than an S-Corp.
IMO, the biggest difference is inheritance tax. Yes, it’s a one-time hit, but unless you get rid of that entirely, non-corporate private sector has no chance at all.
Amen, brother. 👍
Corporations, trusts, and LLCs provide the working poor the same game rules as the generational rich.
I hear you, Ernie –
I guess I just get irritable over needing to play games with these people. I understand that’s just idealism getting in the way of practical realities. Still, it irritates me!
Correct. Cept I just watched 7500 “votes” approve imposition of a 160M utility tax on a town of 24k ? ?
These are things I cant explain ?
keep dreaming that the senile old fart will do any of the things right…
it will never happen in the current set-up.
Squeal like a pig for your Orange Daddy Mr Free speech.
Hilarious you call yourself a Libertarian while expecting your orange daddy to solve your local problems.
Your hypocrisy is on overdrive.
OK, you cut the number of GovCo employees. Now what? These otherwise unemployable people will just go on “welfare”.
I agree, Property Taxes are nothing more than rent. But, can you imagine the gnashing of teeth and renting [pun intended] of clothes down at the local courthouse?
It’s really a fight between GovCo employees and those of us that are tasked with supporting these parasites. This brings us to nut cuttin’ time. You can’t get together with even a small group of people where some, if not most, are employed by GovCo, particularly the schools. I remember going to my first Libertarian Party meeting here in North Carolina. I was blown away with the number of members that were employed in the GovCo university system. No wonder that party gets little to no real traction…if it really wanted it in the first place.
That’s why I look forward to federal holidays and school breaks. The traffic is cut by nearly 25%. They are largely the ones that don’t know how to drive as well.
Hi Mark,
Agreed, property taxes are rent or another form of “you will own nothing”.
I chuckle when the Elephants get overly anxious over the WEF slogan “You will own nothing and be happy.” We already own nothing.
Every state in the Union charges real estate taxes. Over 2/3 charge personal property taxes on boats, cars, and motorcycles and let’s not forget only twelve states do not charge for personal property on business machinery, computers, and equipment.
Walk into almost any business in America and take a look around, pretty much every computer, conference table, countertop, server, forklift, drill press, HVAC unit, refrigerator, flooring, and robot is taxed. This is why so many counties are gung ho about data centers. If the average sized data center holds 3500 servers that are valued at $12500 each with a PPT of $4.25 per $100 that one building generates $1,859,375 for the county on an annual basis.
Based on 2025 statistics Loudoun County, Virginia (The Data Center Capital of the World) has 199 centers. On average Loudoun County collects over $1 billion per year from data centers not including additional real estate taxes, auto taxes, and other business equipment from individuals and any business that is not a data center. How much does Loudoun County collect annually? $4.7 billion. Of course, can you find what they spend it on? Nope, you have to contact the county for that. I am sure that is followed by a significant line of questioning, “Why do you need to see that?”
Hi RG,
Here’s an example – a personal one – of just how obnoxious it is. I bought my house for $270k. In the 22 years since I bought it, I have coughed up something close to $45k in property taxes so far. That’s an effective tax – so far – of not far from 20 percent. If I live here another 20, it will be 30-plus percent – assuming the tax does not increase. Now, I know some Clovers will warble about how my house is worth moooooooore now than it was when I bought it. Fuck them with a 4 inch rusty pipe up their ass. My house’s current sale value is purely hypothetical as I have no plans to sell it. It’s where I live. I hope to live here until I croak. The idea that anyone ought to be forced to pay to stay in their paid-for home is a despicable one. Even more so this idea that because it’s “value” has increased, you now owe mooooooooooore.
Sorry, I’m pissed.
Hey Eric!
To quote a former president, I feel your pain.
We bought our house in 1974 for $33k, I’ve paid more than that in property taxes in just that past three years. I kind of wish I had saved all the bills over those fifty odd years to add up but it’s probably a good thing I didn’t because the total amount would probably make me go postal.
Exactly.
It never ends. The idea of government, as an institution, is an abject failure if it has to rely on coercive extraction of people’s money for its existence.
>this idea that because it’s “value” has increased, you now owe mooooooooooore.
Hey, Eric,
Ya’ll need your very own Howard Jarvis.