For Chinese Home Buyers, Seattle Is the New Vancouver

Re:For Chinese Home Buyers, Seattle Is the New Vancouver by geppeto on Monday May 08, 2017 @01:45AM (#14289500)

I don't think the US constitution would allow for that tax, written that way anyway.

To pass a court challenge, the laws as written and the discussions around them have to apply to everyone otherwise it would be too discriminatory (5th amendment equal liberty clause, & 14th amendment equal protection clause). Maybe you could write it as all homebuyers in that jurisdiction being subject to the tax, and then its tiered for certain variables.

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Re:For Chinese Home Buyers, Seattle Is the New Vancouver by sytelus on Monday May 08, 2017 @03:12AM (#14289818)

Protection under US laws to non-citizens including 5th amendment applies only if you are physically on US soil (excluding space before immigration at port of entry). So if you are non-citizen US house owner living in foreign country, it would be tricky to file lawsuit seeking such protection.

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Re:For Chinese Home Buyers, Seattle Is the New Vancouver by geppeto on Monday May 08, 2017 @10:33AM (#14291781)

Tricky to win, but this would be more like a global sanction than a tax, semantics at this point

I think we could accomplish it but not at a local or state level

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