| > You're assuming that because someone owns property in NYC that they're rich, which is clearly not the case, especially if they've been there for half a century. You need to read what you wrote again. "Just because someone has a very valuable financial asset, doesn't make them rich." ORLY? Let me quote from a news story: "These listings, along with several others at the extreme low end of the market, are well below New York City's median sales price of $635,000, according to StreetEasy.com, which excludes foreclosures from its data. They're also below the bottom 10th of the city market, which has a median sales price of $160,000." Even if your place is worth less than 95% of NYC properties, it's still worth $160,000. Your argument is that someone who has a giant diamond but little liquid income shouldn't have to pay taxes on the diamond. People who are having trouble paying property taxes are RICH people. Their problems go away immediately if they sell the giant asset they are holding onto, or if they even take a loan against its value (and payable when the asset is sold, perhaps when Grandma dies). Does your argument work for all taxes? Should I just convert all my money into a single diamond and then claim I don't have any liquid cash to pay my income taxes? "Oh, my diamond is too big to carve up to pay the taxman! Whatever shall I do!?!?" Not actually a problem. |