Re:Silicon Valley Poverty Is Getting Much Worse Amidst Insan...
by akgerber on Monday March 11, 2013 @03:51PM
(#5359174)
2) Real estate prices – If you are buying a home today, it is very painful. However, due to CA's limited growth property taxes, it is quite affordable for the majority of residents who have been living here for life. That results in a clever form of progressive taxation.
That's not progressive taxation. Most long-term homeowners in expensive areas of California do, in fact, own at least one extremely valuable asset, which makes them wealthy. Since these wealthy people are paying low property taxes, other people need to pick up the cost of city services: younger, poorer folks with less home equity (the form most middle-class wealth takes) or none at all. That sounds like regressive taxation to me.
That's not progressive taxation. Most long-term homeowners in expensive areas of California do, in fact, own at least one extremely valuable asset, which makes them wealthy. Since these wealthy people are paying low property taxes, other people need to pick up the cost of city services: younger, poorer folks with less home equity (the form most middle-class wealth takes) or none at all. That sounds like regressive taxation to me.