How did we create a society where we can’t afford to live in our own country?

Re:How did we create a society where we can’t afford to live... by malloryerik on Wednesday October 25, 2017 @02:52AM (#15548044)

Compensate her for her loss... Well, she's been very well compensated for all of the other people's work around her that has turned her property into a huge economic windfall for her while she was busy tending to her urban zucchini patch.

Land value tax, please.

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Re:How did we create a society where we can’t afford to live... by adolph on Wednesday October 25, 2017 @07:56AM (#15549291)

Taxing granny out of the family’s old home is a political nonstarter right?

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Re:How did we create a society where we can’t afford to live... by refurb on Wednesday October 25, 2017 @09:18AM (#15549803)

Put a lien against her house - property taxes aren't due until either the owner's death or a sale.

Granny gets to stay in her house and the market isn't distorted by perverse incentives. A win for everyone!

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Re:How did we create a society where we can’t afford to live... by craftyguy on Wednesday October 25, 2017 @09:41AM (#15549980)

So when the county needs more tax $$$, they just need to off a few grannies to collect, right?

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Re:How did we create a society where we can’t afford to live... by Redoubts on Wednesday October 25, 2017 @09:48AM (#15550060)

Sorry, my compassion for the tax problems of millionaires is somewhat low.

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Re:How did we create a society where we can’t afford to live... by adolph on Wednesday October 25, 2017 @11:18AM (#15550823)

Your feelings don't matter. The political viability of a solution matters. Nobody got (re-)elected saying "let's tax granny."

Moreover, granny might be a paper millionaire based on the current valuation of a principal asset but otherwise be eating cat food.

Why doesn't she just cash out? I think the below linked blog post has some insight into how each asset of a person isn't an isolated atom but represents a structure of complements.

For example, maybe Granny can't drive and walks down to the community center every day to help immigrant kindergarteners learn to code. If she moved maybe she loses exercise and a reason to live and her lives and those of others are negatively impacted in ways money from selling a house can't fix. Or maybe, since Halloween is coming up, she is a sadistic cat killer and if she sells her house and moves the whole neighborhood is overrun with feral felines reducing everyone's property value due to fears of cat scratch fever.

http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2017/10/sel...

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Re:How did we create a society where we can’t afford to live... by Redoubts on Wednesday October 25, 2017 @11:38AM (#15550997)

If the neighborhood is so nice, she can trade up for a townhouse or condo in the area. None of those problems are solved with a low density single family home.

> Your feelings don’t matter

They do when the argument begins and ends with tugging at my heart strings. And I honestly don’t see these Jarvis arguments from the 70s holding up for much longer. Not when everyone else is hurting.

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Re:How did we create a society where we can’t afford to live... by malloryerik on Wednesday October 25, 2017 @05:32PM (#15554467)

Yes! Also, a land value tax does not tax the property value, but only the land's value, so the same amount of tax is owed by these neighboring plots:

1) an empty lot, 2) a single family home, and 3) a 30 floor residential tower,

presuming they're equally-sized lots with equal land value.

If granny's taxes are high, the answer is to put her land to productive use like by adding rental units instead of growing zucchini. Or sell and buy better land for hobby zucchini gardening (or grow it on the roof of her new tower).

Regulations don't allow her to add rental units? Then it's the regulations that are bad, and finally land value taxes are aligning land owners' and renters' interests instead of dividing them.

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Re:How did we create a society where we can’t afford to live... by unethical_ban on Wednesday October 25, 2017 @10:21AM (#15550307)

Sorry, not all people affected by gentrification and urban growth are millionaires.

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Re:How did we create a society where we can’t afford to live... by Redoubts on Wednesday October 25, 2017 @10:31AM (#15550408)

They are in this discussion.

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Re:How did we create a society where we can’t afford to live... by crdoconnor on Wednesday October 25, 2017 @02:54PM (#15553035)

Market forces pushing her out of her rented home doesn't appear to raise any eyebrows.

Faux compassion for granny is how prop 13 got passed though, so sure, people fall for this shit.

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Re:How did we create a society where we can’t afford to live... by wbl on Wednesday October 25, 2017 @09:53AM (#15550110)

Not a Californian I take it. Because Granny's grandkids inherit the Prop 13 valuation.

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