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A comment on Even the Rich Are Being Priced Out of Central London. Parent comment

Re:Even the Rich Are Being Priced Out of Central London by jonknee on Friday September 02, 2016 @03:09PM (#12415436)
I think they should be allowed to buy the homes, but then face stiff property taxes (with a homestead exemption for actual residents). The property taxes on Billionaire's Row in NYC are often absurdly low:

http://www.citylab.com/housing/2015/05/why-billionaires-dont...

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Re:Even the Rich Are Being Priced Out of Central London by tezza on Friday September 02, 2016 @03:33PM (#12415640)
They will pay pensioners to live there 'on paper' to meet your homestead requirement.

The whole tax penalty is thwarted that way

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Re:Even the Rich Are Being Priced Out of Central London by slavik81 on Friday September 02, 2016 @04:10PM (#12415905)
Right now I'm paying rent like a sucker when I could be paid to live here instead? Sounds good to me.
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Re:Even the Rich Are Being Priced Out of Central London by notfromhere on Friday September 02, 2016 @03:47PM (#12415761)
At least they'll be occupied that way. Maybe they can even have whole families move in there, with some sort of agreement that they receive a monthly payment in exchange.
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Re:Even the Rich Are Being Priced Out of Central London by msh on Friday September 02, 2016 @03:53PM (#12415796)
If you realitet the oner to live there and pay property taxes is quite risky to use a straw man.
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Re:Even the Rich Are Being Priced Out of Central London by bradleyjg on Friday September 02, 2016 @03:52PM (#12415789)
Happily the 421-a exemption program referenced in that article was allowed to expire. Not because of a consensus that it was a bad idea (which it was) but because of a pissing match between the governor and the mayor. We have to take our victories where we can get them; hopefully they'll continue fighting forever.

We still have structural problems in the city property tax code -- for example condo and co-op buildings have to be taxed as if they were rental buildings, a complex calculation that generally undervalues them. But if and when those are fixed, I think full property taxes are would be enough. I don't see the need for a punitive rate on top of that. At least not in NYC, other cities may have a bigger problem with absentee owners.

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