D&D and the rising pandemic

[Cadence]

You seem to think that property taxes stop coming when the mortgage is paid off? I do not understand something in your background assumptions.

I don't think I assumed that. Which one of my cases made it seem so? I can try to clarify

In the case with a house purchased for 1X and now worth 6X, the current way most places work is to have it taxed based on 6X (or something trailing that but going up every reassessment cycle). The proposal I was commenting on would have them pay taxes on 1X. Say they own their house (so only payments are tax on 1X, insurance on 6X, and utilities) want to move to a similar house somewhere else. (To simplify, assume no realtor fees). They would now need to pay tax on 6X, insurance on 6X, and utilities. If the tax rate is bad, they're getting it all now. I can imagine the tax on 5X more keeping someone from being able to move.

I have no problem with the person who just wants to spend the last of their days paying 1X in property tax to stay there. But I'm not sure why their kids should inherit the 6X house without having to pay back all the years of tax on 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6X the neighbors who moved in later had to pay.

The proposal has the person in their mid 50s near maximum earnings with the kids out of the house living somewhere for only property tax on 1X while the new family that moved in to a similar house is paying property tax on 6X with lower earnings. I'm not sure why the well off 50 year old needs to pay less.

 

[Imaculata]

It's Free Comic Book Day this Saturday, so we're faced with the prospect of a busy comic store. The best I can think of is to only allow 10-15 people in the 2000 sq ft store at a time (masks required). Any other ideas on controlling traffic? (A few local stores have opted to skip it).

Put some colored tape on the floor to create a flow of one way traffic in the store. You can also use the tape to indicate the distance people should keep from one another.

Also, since people tend to touch a lot of stuff in a comicbook store, provide a way for people to disinfect their hands, and/or disinfect things people touch. Having comicbooks in plastic would make this easier. Then you can spray disinfectant on things afterwards.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

‘I Am Legend’ screenwriter responds to conspiracy theory about vaccines turning people into zombies

Akiva Goldsman is here to remind anti-vaxxers that zombies are made up.

www.yahoo.com

Apparently, some people are conflating parts of the Will Smith version of I Am Legend with the RW coronavirus pandemic. And doing so in ways that not only demonstrate problems distinguishing reality from fiction, but also a fundamental misunderstanding of the actual plot of the movie.

The fear is that the vaccines can cause something akin to zombi-ism, just Ike they think it did in the movie. Except…the movie is clear- the “zombies” were created by a bioengineered virus, not the vaccine mentioned in the movie.

 

[Hussar]

It just nuts. I wish housing was just considered "homes" instead of "investment". That attitude on the part of policy-makers (and I guess the interests that own them) is killing society for regular folks. I mean so many people now have literally no hope of getting in or moving on or whatever they aspire to, even if they do everything "right."
It's just nuts.

Well, I live in that type of setup. A house here is straight line depreciated over 20 years. IOW, after 20 years, your house is worth zero. Most people, if they buy a lot with a 20+ year old house on it, bulldoze the house and build a new one. Basically, no one ever buys more than one house in their lifetime because, like a car, it's always a net loss. The land holds its value reasonably well, but, considering Japanese inflation is about 0.001% per year, it's not really changing a whole lot year on year.

I know right now that the house I just bought three months ago will be worthless by the time I retire. It's not a nice feeling.

 

[Zardnaar]

Well, I live in that type of setup. A house here is straight line depreciated over 20 years. IOW, after 20 years, your house is worth zero. Most people, if they buy a lot with a 20+ year old house on it, bulldoze the house and build a new one. Basically, no one ever buys more than one house in their lifetime because, like a car, it's always a net loss. The land holds its value reasonably well, but, considering Japanese inflation is about 0.001% per year, it's not really changing a whole lot year on year.

I know right now that the house I just bought three months ago will be worthless by the time I retire. It's not a nice feeling.

Are they cheap though?

 

[Janx]

I don't think I assumed that. Which one of my cases made it seem so? I can try to clarify

In the case with a house purchased for 1X and now worth 6X, the current way most places work is to have it taxed based on 6X (or something trailing that but going up every reassessment cycle). The proposal I was commenting on would have them pay taxes on 1X. Say they own their house (so only payments are tax on 1X, insurance on 6X, and utilities) want to move to a similar house somewhere else. (To simplify, assume no realtor fees). They would now need to pay tax on 6X, insurance on 6X, and utilities. If the tax rate is bad, they're getting it all now. I can imagine the tax on 5X more keeping someone from being able to move.

I have no problem with the person who just wants to spend the last of their days paying 1X in property tax to stay there. But I'm not sure why their kids should inherit the 6X house without having to pay back all the years of tax on 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6X the neighbors who moved in later had to pay.

The proposal has the person in their mid 50s near maximum earnings with the kids out of the house living somewhere for only property tax on 1X while the new family that moved in to a similar house is paying property tax on 6X with lower earnings. I'm not sure why the well off 50 year old needs to pay less.

here in the land of Texas, once I get to be OldEnough, property taxes freeze. That number is 65 or some higher number I can only hope to aspire to. Like very retiremed old people age. Haven't looked it up.

Definitely not 50, and I can assure you, the rate has gone up, year over year from when I was a younger home owner to the much, much closer to 50 home owner. A punk buying a home now is paying the same interest I am.

 

[Cadence]

here in the land of Texas, once I get to be OldEnough, property taxes freeze. That number is 65 or some higher number I can only hope to aspire to. Like very retiremed old people age. Haven't looked it up.

Doing that at some high enough age seems better to me than having them kicked to the street.

Definitely not 50, and I can assure you, the rate has gone up, year over year from when I was a younger home owner to the much, much closer to 50 home owner. A punk buying a home now is paying the same interest I am.

I've refinanced three times since we bought our place 10+ years ago. And looking back at the interest rates my parents originally had... yeesh!

 

[billd91]

I like the policy that 'the taxable value of your house is the price you bought it for'. Because in Indiana, after the voters put a property tax rate cap into the State Constitution, assessed property values started climbing - just about as fast as the rates had used to be rising.

It didn't work so well for California. Their education system suffered badly after Prop 13.

 

[Umbran]

It just nuts. I wish housing was just considered "homes" instead of "investment".

So, for a moment, I want to break out the differences between "cost", "price" and "value".

Cost is how much it takes to create a thing. Price is how much you can sell the thing for. Value is how much a thing is worth.

Value is incredibly subjective. For everyday people their home is incredibly valuable. Nothing with that high a value, and such a high cost will not also have a high economic value.

If our physical environment, biology, psychology, and/or culture were different, maybe homes would not have so high a value, but we are somewhat prisoners of who and what we are.

 

[Umbran]

It didn't work so well for California. Their education system suffered badly after Prop 13.

Yeah. Folks complain about property taxes being high. But... you all realize that money gets used for a lot of important things. Most towns get their education budgets out of property taxes, for example.

It is reasonable to say that we don't want to pay more than our fair share of taxes, but... stuff needs to get paid for. Policies that generally reduce the amount of property taxes paid mean you don't get other stuff you depend on.