Time to Re-Think County Taxes!!!!!

Perhaps county taxes should be completely re-thought.
Based on peoples income not the price of ones home. It would be far more fair and realistic especially in todays economy that is hitting all of us differently.
This blog has lead me to believe the current home taxes are completely unfair in the current economic conditions.
This womans her family’s plight really got to me and what they went through to save their home and dignity. Heres the link and it is a heart breaking story the struggles many are going through not just here but all over the country. Very sad with sort of a happy ending or should I say at least more time to have an happy ending. School people and BOS read this because their plight is far more prevalent then many might want to believe. Of course you have the foreclosure vultures preying on stealing peoples homes under the disguise they are helping them for their own fat personal gain off good peoples unfortunate situations.

http://www.mommylife.net/archives/2008/01/avoid_foreclosu.html
Lee j

 

I'm not sure what that article has to do with property taxes?

It's actually a good article and mentions that banks that foreclose are not "vultures" but just businesses trying to minimize their own loss. If the homeowner can work with them to avoid foreclosure then everyone wins.

 

Banks that foreclose too much are going to go under, far better to work it out with the people. Just look at wall street right now falling almost everyday because of this mortgage mess. One of the large brokerage house's today predicted a 15 % drop in home prices in 2008 another 10 % in 2009 and feels there will be further drops in 2010. The mortgage crisis is destroying the economy with no end in sight. The Adjustable mortgages are going to reset for millions and millions for years to come. Nobody knows the end of this.

So what I am saying income tax is a better way to gage someones financial health and should be used in the county instead of real estate taxes. This mortgage crisis affects all of us because of the unheard of drop in home prices since the depression. And it is effecting everyones portfolio financially because the stock market is falling because of this crisis. Much better for the banks to work with people because it hurts us all when they go under then wall street is affected. Believe there is no end in sight in all this. This tax credit is not going to save the economy and it certainly will not help if most of it goes to pay debt and not buy goods. Then we have a huge deficit and then the layoffs start coming from the government on down to all industries. I can bet lot of you have never seen anything like this a housing crisis and what it can do to the economy. I seen it happen and this is my sixth one. And believe me the last one in the early nineties is mild compare to what is happening now.

But back to my topic save the mortgage and housing industry and you save the economy. A tax credit will not do that. Or we are going to see foreign vulture funds buy up this country on a fraction of the dollar and they win and a lot of us lose. Happened before and can happen again. Loudoun Station is owned by Comstock one of the large urban centers by the future metro station, they are on the verge of bankruptcy according to the Washington business journal. I believe it is just the tip of the iceberg in commercial real estate for the nest many years. Just because many of you can afford your home with a high paying job at the moment but are you able to take a huge financial hit on your portfolio if the stock market continues to crater????

What happens because of the huge deficit you lose your job or take a large pay cut, how many can last. How much liquidity do most people really have that is not effected by the stock market home prices and job security. These things usually catch people at the last minute and off guard. So that is why I say the school system and the county government should be run from taxes based on income not real estate.

Lee j

 

Many counties around the country impose a county income tax to supplement their revenues. It was talked about briefly around here several years ago, but was quickly squashed.

 

Why would it be more fair? What about those who did the smart/safe thing and didn't buy their home at the edge of their means? Do they deserve to pay more taxes just because they can afford to? At least with property based taxes you do have somewhat of a choice. If you don't want a huge tax bill, then don't buy a super size house. I think taxes based on consumption are more fair than taxes based on income.

 

Well lets take this a step further. What about people that would like to stay here in their home that have retired and now have their home paid for but the taxes are driving them out on their fixed income??????? And that is one of a dozen situations I can come up with.

Personally I believe homes should be for shelter not profit centers for the homeowners. ANd there is a whole interesting discussion going on about that one one of my architecture sites. I would love to give a link but it is a private club no civilians allowed.

 

Great post and a great point.

Tax the consumption, not the income. That's the ony fair way in a free market.

 

Uh oh! Gryphon and I agree on something? That's scary! Just kidding, Gryphon.

 

[off topic]

Not that you'll see this, grypon, b/c I think you've blocked my posts because of my "racist" posts, but I wanted to congratulate you on your e-signature (or whatever you call that thing on the bottom of your post). Given the tone of some of your posts, I'd think that you would hesitate to publicly identify yourself to your neighbors. But if your "bumper sticker" announcement is accurate you're willing to let your neighbors know who you are--kudos!

And, since we're talking about your bumper stickers, it was nice to see Obama trounce Clinton in SC today!

[/off topic]

 

Nope you all are very wrong about the consumption thing. People with less income consume just for the basics far bigger percentage of what they make then one with a large income. And as you move thru life income and consumption has too many variations. Income is always the fairest way to taxation. It is obvious where you two are in life.

And if we don't consume and only save the economy goes to hell.

Lee j

 

While I feel for anyone in this situation, I don't think that removing the tax is the right answer. The problem here is not the property tax itself but rather disproportionate increases in relative cost of living. What we don't have in place but should are laws to protect land owners from sharp tax increases. Several states have this including your beloved California.

Thanks anyway. Your posts here are all I can handle :rolleyes3:

 

While I didn't mean to imply we should end all forms of income tax and replace with consumption based taxes, I don't think the opposite is the right path either. I do believe there needs to be some form of income tax, just not necessarily at the county level.

 

My in-laws live in CA and can't afford to retire anywhere else because of prop. 13. They have over a million dollar home that they pay around $1000. a year in property taxes. They cannot afford to downsize either because the taxes would then become much higher. (Although I say cash out the house and have fun - but that's another story!) Prop.13 has also been bad for the schools out in CA (among many other reasons). We lived there for 7 years and saw the results of no money coming from property taxes for schools - I can show you pictures of all the buckets in my child's classroom to collect the rainwater coming in through the roof. With tax rates capped at around 2% and costs going up by a much higher percent, it doesn't work. I believe several years ago Fairfax County had the opportunity to vote for a similar real estate tax proposition and the general public turned it down.

 

Is it prop 13 that has your in-laws "stuck" in their house or perhaps the drastic increase in the surrounding cost of living? At least with prop 13, your in-laws have the option to retire right where they are without moving. If it is as you say and there isn't a single place they could afford around them, then how could they possibly even afford to stay in their own house without prop 13? I think the real issue is a skyrocketing cost of living. Prop 13 is intended to help, and while I don't argue that it may have introduced it's own share of problems, I don't see how it is the reason people can be out priced of their own area. It at least allows people in that situation to stay where they are. While I do sympathize with the issue, what about all the folks who don't want to move but would have been forced out of their own homes without prop 13? I have a few friends there that bought years ago and would have otherwise been forced out of their homes. When I lived there I never could afford anything more than an overpriced condo and is one of the key reasons I am back in Va when I finally decided to end apartment life.

 

They're paying taxes based on a house originally valued at $40,000, not valued at over a million. If they purchase now, their property taxes will be at whatever they purchase now. That portion of their budget would sky-rocket. I don't entirely understand the process either, I just know that we moved out of the state due to schools, environment, and cost-of-living and this area with the rising costs is still much better than what we were doing there.

 

Yes but if prop 13 had never existed they would have paid taxes each year based on that year's current value which, by the sound of it, would have pushed them out of their home long ago. Prop 13 has afforded them the luxury of keeping their home for as long as they choose. Let's say prop 13 never existed. At some point they would have been forced out of their home due to rising tax costs. They wouldn't even have had the luxury on deciding when to leave their home. The choice would have been made for them, financially. They never would have had the chance to be sitting on a $1M asset either.

 

Absolutely. I don't even pretend to understand all that goes in to this, but I saw government issues there when they couldn't get more than a 2% increase from a community and the community had much more than a 2% increase in costs. Their gas taxes are much higher than the gas taxes here. Their sales tax is higher than here. They also have never had their property taxes going down. My property taxes have decreased for 2 years (don't know what they'll do this year). The schools here are much better, and even with the complaints of traffic, it's still better here than it was in the San Jose area.

 

While I suspect property assessments will go down again this year, I'd be surprised if the Loudoun won't alter the tax rate to get at least as much as they did last year. I have no argument with some increase every year as long as it's not greater than typical inflation.

I do agree that it is much better here than San Jose. For the most part I did enjoy the three years I was out there but it is not currently an attractive place to set roots, at least not financially. With respect to your in-laws, I do sympathize with their situation and hope they can find a happy resolve.

 

bring back the car (personal property) tax!! where those who feel the need to have luxury cars are taxed the most and those who can (and should) drive clunkers pay the least!! Its kind of a combo consumption-income tax with a huge loophole for those who don't care what they drive.