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by ufhghfggf 1742 days ago
This will do nothing. CA has a low median property tax rate[1] of 0.74%, which allows rich elites and foreign speculators to buy empty lots of land and let them sit unused for decades while waiting for them to go up in value. This low property tax rate allows rich rent-seekers to buy up properties and then rent them out to people who can't get the big loans the landed aristocracy can. So we now have a record number of young people living with their parents, especially in expensive places like CA. Newsom is rich, as are his donors, as is Nancy Pelosi, and they have no interest in raising the property taxes of the mansions they live in and their investment properties they don't live in.

[1] http://www.tax-rates.org/taxtables/property-tax-by-state
2 comments
reducesuffering 1742 days ago
> as is Nancy Pelosi

I find it odd that people who are working until they are past 80 are accused of doing so just to enrich themselves. Pelosi has what 8 years left alive on average, and is spending all her time still working and influencing politics so that she goes to the grave with ~2% more money? Does that sound right to you?

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bradlys 1741 days ago
Yet Pelosi isn’t training any replacements to take over for her. Pelosi could still be working to enrich herself and for the power trip and fame. It’s not like people only have one simple motivation when they are in Congress.

Pelosi is a neoliberal ghoul as much as anyone on the right side of Congress. She has no interest but in herself. She will continue to act in her best interests as she always has. (This isn’t much different of almost anyone in Congress - but worth mentioning anyway)

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ufhghfggf 1741 days ago
How much of her $100M+ fortune has she donated to charity? Almost none that I can see. Bill Gates and Warren Buffett have committed to giving nearly all their billions to charity but Paul and Nancy Pelosi are using their $100M+ to establish multi-generational trust fund wealth for their children and family.
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azernik 1740 days ago
Where are you seeing these empty unused lots of land?
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gamesetmath 1738 days ago
downtown LA has as many unused/vacated units as the number of homeless.
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azernik 1736 days ago
That is the normal frictional vacancy rate, and is mostly temporary. It's also not a problem of buying and holding empty land; by definition, vacancies are on built-up lots, and they generally spike when construction is finished (takes time to rent/sell all the apartments in a new building).

https://la.curbed.com/2020/3/5/21079171/los-angeles-vacancy-...

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