Capitalist societies across the world are in complete demographic collapse because young people can’t afford homes to raise families, and yet progressive land taxation remains an unpopular idea.
I find it absurd that the government can come take the house of a 70-year-old whose retired and cant keep up with the property tax skyrocketing around them.
I find it absurd that rich people can move to an area they like and displace all the families that have been there generations by virtue of property tax increases effectively conquering the land.
I find it absurd that the government can take your home AT ALL after you have spent your whole life paying for it.
> I find it absurd that the government can take your home AT ALL after you have spent your whole life paying for it.
They can, but IIRC the Supreme Court just ruled that they have to give you the proceeds from the sale minus whatever lien value they had on the property.
Not that I necessarily disagree with your sentiment, but the situation isn't quite as dire as the statement makes it appear to be.
For what it's worth: I'm from the Netherlands, generally considered a very high tax country. I've only recently learned about US property taxes and I'm shocked.
We too have such a thing, in a much more complicated way, but it's a mere fraction of what you pay.
On average, a dutch household that owns a home pays 851€ per year in municipality taxes, which includes property tax, waste/garbage services and sewage rights. Pure property tax may be as low as 50€ per month.
The idea behind it is very simple: you can't eat a home. A home you occupy does not generate any immediate income. Further, a home owner has little influence on the value of its property. When it rises in value that might be great, but your income, whichever it is, does not rise along with it. Finally, one can effectively never retire in their own bloody home with such a scheme.
Property tax is deeply unethical and cruel. Astonishing how the ultimate capitalist country allows for it.
I find it absurd that rich people can move to an area they like and displace all the families that have been there generations by virtue of property tax increases effectively conquering the land.
I find it absurd that the government can take your home AT ALL after you have spent your whole life paying for it.