[zacherates]

The biggest tax benefit of living in an owner occupied home is that nobody pays income tax on the rent you would pay if you were living in a house someone else owned.

... but most places don't have the stones to tax imputed rent [1]: Belgium, Iceland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Slovenia, Spain and Switzerland being exceptions.

[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imputed_rent

[pooper]

If the choices are between implementing tax on imputed rent and killing all economists by boiling them all alive, I'll gladly start gathering firewood. I'm just joking. I am all for higher taxes on everyone.

I have one condition though. If I should pay tax on imputed rent, then Google and Facebook should pay taxes everytime someone clicks on a sponsored link that takes them to their own property. Every time I bring up this idea that companies must pay taxes on funny money they spend within the organization, people yell at me. Microsoft should pay taxes Windows licenses that they use internally. No, you can't give yourself a "discount" and say well we charged ourselves zero dollars so we owe no taxes. Pay taxes on the market rate. Either make it free of cost for everyone or pay taxes when you use things internally.

[andsoitis]

> No, you can't give yourself a "discount" and say well we charged ourselves zero dollars so we owe no taxes. Pay taxes on the market rate. Either make it free of cost for everyone or pay taxes when you use things internally.

Could they just say we "licensed/sold" it at a loss, and therefore take a tax deduction?

[briandear]

> I am all for higher taxes on everyone.

Why? Taxes should be the minimum required to provide for the core services of government. Big governments are dangerous. Also taxes have deadweight loss.

[lotsofpulp]

I do not understand this reasoning. Especially because everywhere has property taxes, which sound like the same thing.

[briandear]

Taxing imputed rent? That’s ridiculous. Taxing income someone might have made? Some people and countries want the government to have far too much power. If someone decides not to work, should we tax the income they could have made?