Comment by Gareth321
2 days ago
Through no plan of your own, you now have $1M - tax free. I am currently playing the world's smallest violin.
2 days ago
Through no plan of your own, you now have $1M - tax free. I am currently playing the world's smallest violin.
I think that there's something about LVT, but your dismissal is very shallow and why it's not been implemented so far.
I don't _want_ $1M, I want to live in my house that I bought and lived in for years. Getting money I don't need and having to live in a place I don't want to live in is _not_ a positive situation.
I don't think some extra taxes on expensive land is the red line you appear to believe it is. People who own expensive land have many options the rest of the world could only dream of, including reverse mortgages. Meaning no one is actually forcing anyone off their land. They're just being asked to pay some extra taxes. If you believe tax is theft, I can see why this is agitating, but I do not share that view.
I do not share that "taxation is theft" view either. And I agree that owning expensive land is a privileged position. But the concern of being pushed out of one's home because of an increase in tax is real, "just sell it" is not a viable solution, houses and locations are not fungible.
Maybe reverse mortgages are the answer, I'm not sure, I'll admit I'm not very knowledgable about this.
> Getting money I don't need and having to live in a place I don't want to live in is _not_ a positive situation.
It doesn't need to be.
"No one can ever build any new developments" is also a very negative situation for everyone.*
The goal is to balance these tradeoffs, and it can't just be sunshine and roses for everyone all the time.
*It's also basically our present situation, which is why housing is so absurdly expensive.
Why do you believe that you should be allowed to preserve your present lifestyle in amber at a (very minor incremental) cost to economic prosperity for all of society?
This assumes a house is nothing but an investment, like a bunch of stock.
This is far from reality. A home is family and life to most people, nobody cares if it went up or down in value, a home is about our life.
> nobody cares if it went up or down in value
If only this were true, we wouldn't have homeowners constantly fighting against new development or construction. Many homeowners treat their primary residence as an investment.
> If only this were true, we wouldn't have homeowners constantly fighting against new development or construction. Many homeowners treat their primary residence as an investment.
You'll be very hard pressed to find any home owner who actually thinks in this cartoonish way.
When people oppose changing the character of their home neighborhood it has nothing to do with "treating their primary residence as an investment". It is because they selected a place to live, to call home, based on some criteria that they liked. Everyone does. A home is a big commitment, so you spend a lot of time researching exactly where you want to settle down for the next many decades. You pick an area you like, a neighborhood you enjoy.
For some people that might be quite rural, for some people distant suburban, for others near-city suburban, for others inner-city center. Whichever type of area you select, it is because that's the kind of area you personally enjoy the most. Somehow this obvious truth is controversial on HN for reasons I don't understand, but it is the truth. People select what makes them happy, no surprise.
So, when people oppose seeing their suburban area torn down to build highrises, it has absolutely nothing to do with home values or investments.
People oppose it because they very intentionally chose to live in a suburb far away from highrises and now they see those imposed on them. Of course they're unhappy. Basic human nature, nothing to do with investments.
If someone feels this is not so, I'd appreciate an explanation of your viewpoint.
My comment was made with the lens of a regular home that people live in.