[adrianN]

If I were 80 years old I would be very upset if I were forced to move from my home where I had spent the last forty odd years because of rising taxes.

I think we can find ways to deal with this problem without forcing people to sell their homes. Problems related to old people can often be solved by making sure that they don't perpetuate and waiting.

[a_thro_away]

Michigan has Proposal A, which limits property tax rise to inflation (or something close), until sold when it reverts to the current valuation. IIRC, it is exactly to counter throwing older people out of their homes, and other people who do not wish to lose their homes because of sometimes crazy increases in property value.

[notahacker]

It's not too difficult to allow the elderly to defer the tax until they die or choose to sell.

[pc86]

If the house is passed on to a child, they are forced to sell whether they can afford the taxes or not because now they have decades of built of tax debt they need to pay off out of the estate. If you defer until sale and the elderly person sells when they can't take care of themselves anymore, they have less money with which they can get a new residence.

[notahacker]

Sure, I wasn't suggesting that a special tax break created for elderly who wish to avoid moving out of a house they were fortunate enough to buy for far less than its current market value should continue to apply when they no longer need the house.

Why wouldn't you organise things so that property-owning dynasties aren't able to freeload off the appreciation in their property values accruing from the work and taxes paid by others?

[pc86]

What's wrong with saying "you could afford this when it was taxed at x% and valued at $y, but now it's taxed at 1.5x and 2y, and you can't afford it, and you should move?"

I'd much rather sell a $500k house and move because the monthly tax bill is too much for my cash flow than stay there and have the thing repossessed because I owe $15k, then I get nothing.

This is more of the "I'm entitled to ___________" mindset coming out of the baby boomer generation. Yes you paid for your house, but there is a monthly tax requirement to keep it. If you paid the house off in full but can't pay the monthly taxes, you can't afford that house.

[rplst8]

What's right with government spending continuously increasing, necessitating the increase in taxes such that people are forced to sell their possessions to pay for it?

[dsfyu404ed]

>I'd much rather sell a $500k house and move because the monthly tax bill is too much for my cash flow than stay there and have the thing repossessed because I owe $15k, then I get nothing.

You might feel differently if you spend the last 40yr there and intend for your children to inherit it.

[pc86]

I can move into a small place and give my kids $400k plus a house they can rent out, or I can refuse to accept reality, go many tens of thousands of dollars into debt to the state, get my home taken away with no remuneration, have that debt attached to my estate to further eat into their inheritance, and my kids have to then house me and they get nothing.

Owning a home is not a right, it is a privilege, and a privilege that is based in part on you paying your fair share of taxes as determined by the government you help elect.

[adrianN]

Many people feel a strong connection to the place where they spent a large part of their life. I think it is a reasonable goal for a society to enable people to build a home and stay there for the rest of their lives. Forcing people to move seems wrong to me.

Especially for old people it is very hard to get ripped out of their neighborhood. You don't easily relocate your live at 80 (or even at 65) and form new bonds to your neighbors, find new places where you spent your time etc.

[trome]

Sure, many old people feel a deep connection to their place of abode, but often it would make much more sense for them to relocate within their community, or move to where their friends are moving.

I've seen this scenario play out many times, you can either stay put and deal with the large maintenance burden of an older house, while all your friends move or die off, or you can join them and move to a more central location where you don't need to worry about the roof leaking, or the sump pump not working.

[hydrogen18]

Is this OK if you were 35 years old?