You think the government just takes taxes and burns it? Taxes are required for government to function. Saying “they only can’t afford it because of taxes” is as silly as saying “I only can’t afford a new car because of how much it costs”.
There are 28 vacant homes per homeless person in the US. It’s not old folks wanting to live in the homes they spent decades in. It’s corporate landlords and bad zoning laws.
Corporate landlords, while scum, have little to do with the housing crisis. And yes, it is zoning laws, but it’s also old people wanting to clutch to homes they shouldn’t be able to afford anymore.
If taxes were fair, there would be far more housed people. The old retired people could sell their million dollar home and move out to the crappy shithole with cheap houses and no jobs that you apparently want young working people to somehow live in. AND, the retired people would spend their money THERE and make that place less of a shithole. AND, the increased housing stock would lower prices and help counteract the very problem you’re talking about - high taxes due to high home valuations.
AHemlocksLie@lemmy.zip 1 month ago
Lmfao old people living in their homes is a bigger problem than corporate landlords? That’s absolutely ludicrous. And you want to keep harping on these expensive ass houses when I already demonstrated that you can spend half your Social Security on a barely over median value home AND agreed with you that it shouldn’t apply to particularly lavish homes. You’re not interested in facts. You’ve found your enemy to hate, and somehow, you chose elderly retired people instead of the moneyed interests routinely fucking us all over. I’d devote the time to explaining why that’s wrong and providing evidence, but you’ve clearly demonstrated that your clown ass will just ignore it.
Cryophilia@lemmy.world 1 month ago
SPECIFICALLY concerning the abysmal lack of housing, yes. Not generally. Don’t twist my words.
And these precious poor old homeowner people you keep defending ARE MILLIONAIRES. Fuck em. They’re dragons sitting on their hoards, and the fact that it’s a smaller hoard than the corpo fucks does NOT make them our friends or allies or deserving of our pity. Their greed is making things worse for all of us.
So what they want to live in their community? So does Zuckerburg, and we’d be well within our rights to drag him out of his home and onto the street. Taxes are your debt that is owed to the community, and everyone who doesn’t want to contribute their fair share, based on the wealth they have, can get fucked. No exceptions just because they’re old. Pay your damn taxes.
AHemlocksLie@lemmy.zip 1 month ago
I literally did the math to prove that isn’t always the case. This is why I didn’t bother providing more facts, you’re just going to prioritize your feelings over hard facts.
And even if a barely over median home value DID make them a millionaire, that’s a gross condemnation of the housing market, not a literally barely above average home owner. The idea that someone living in the home they bought and owning no other properties might be responsible for the housing problems is absolutely ludicrous because that’s the fucking point of housing. If you think people living in their own homes is the problem with the housing market, I really have no idea how to address the utter void of reasoning required to reach that conclusion.
Yeah, my point still stands. Housing is for people to live in. People living in their own housing will never be the cause of the problem when that’s the whole fucking reason we build housing. I really don’t understand how you could blame someone living in their only home MORE than you blame corporations who buy homes for the express purpose of renting it out for profit, the literal fucking definition of rent seeking behavior.
I’m not advocating for exceptions for the elderly. You expressly avoided quoting my actual proposal, no taxes on a primary residence of a reasonable value in relation to state home values. That’s not saying people shouldn’t pay taxes. That’s saying that their home shouldn’t be a tax burden so long as it’s a reasonable property.
Cryophilia@lemmy.world 1 month ago
When old retired people are able to hold on to houses they shouldn’t be able to afford, it lowers the supply of housing in the area, which likely has higher house values because it’s an area with jobs, attracting young working people. San Francisco, Seattle, Cincinnati, Austin, hell practically every mid to large city. Lower supply = higher prices. In addition, old homeowners paying lower taxes means a greater tax burden on new homeowners, again meaning higher prices.
The math is inescapable, and no emotional screeching will change that truth. You may not LIKE it, it may not give you the warm fuzzies, but that does not mean it’s wrong. Don’t call your emotional response “fact”. It’s wrong.
Prop 13 and its variants are absolutely an exception for the elderly. And their heirs, which is just blatant bullshit, but that’s a whole other conversation.
When property values go up, taxes should go up proportionally. If a proportional tax increase means you can’t afford your home anymore, then you can’t afford your home anymore.
That IS saying people shouldn’t pay taxes. Unless you disagree with the entire concept of taxing wealth. A home’s value is wealth. You may not want to think of it that way but it’s worth money the same way a stock portfolio is worth money. The same way a yacht is worth money. If you believe those assets should be taxed, then a home should be taxed. And I do believe that wealth should be taxed entirely separately from and irrespective of income. The tax RATE should obviously be progressive and not a flat tax. But no blanket exemption, especially not for poor pitiful millionaires, whatever their social security check dollar amount is.