6 ms·

Corrupt tax valuations are a problem, but it's practically one of the tenants of property tax that it is supposed to elbow you out if you can't afford the tax.

Corrupt tax valuations are a problem, but it's practically one of the tenants of property tax that it is supposed to elbow you out if you can't afford the tax. It's not "nice" to say, but one of the purposes of property tax is to serve as a market force to encourage better usage of valuable land.

ThrustVectoring 10y ago
One possible fix is a law that states the government must purchase properties at the assessed price (or at something like 85% of the assessed price). Then if the tax office assesses your house at triple its actual value, well, they just handed you a giant pile of cash.
- mjevans 10y ago
  I actually like this idea. Lets take it a tiny bit further. To prevent the government from harassing you in to forced sales they don't intend to complete, make it a guaranteed minimum of the larger of 90% of the assessed value or 85% of the final sale price. Also the government, while the property is for sale, allows your continued use as previous and pays you 0.005% of the assessed value of the property //per month// for the privilege of listing it and allowing buyers to view it during normal business hours. At any time the government can cancel the deal and re-assess the value of the property, which shall be official retroactively for tax purposes (as far back as re-filing is allowed). At any time the current owners can cancel the deal, but then agree that the valued price is fair and valid as well as are required to hold the property for a full year after the cancellation.
- repsilat 10y ago
  Another fix is to let you set the value yourself, and treat it as a standing offer to sell (at some premium, maybe.)
  - ThrustVectoring 10y ago
    That runs into the problem of incentivizing various poison-pill type strategies to make it expensive in other ways to accept the standing offer to sell. Like, a high-level mobster could easily list their properties well below market rate while letting it be known to potential buyers that actually trying to purchase the property means saying goodbye to your kneecaps. There's a similar corruption issue on the government-sets-buy-price side, where unscrupulous officials can transfer wealth to individuals, but at least the corruption there is much more able to be audited.
- cududa 10y ago
  I'm sure the troica will accept this and make it a plank of the next payment traunch...
gohrt 10y ago
"tenants of property tax" would be a rental tax ;-)
gnopgnip 10y ago
The fix is to locally elect the property tax assessors. If they are dramatically overvaluing property they will not be re elected.

ThrustVectoring 10y ago

One possible fix is a law that states the government must purchase properties at the assessed price (or at something like 85% of the assessed price). Then if the tax office assesses your house at triple its actual value, well, they just handed you a giant pile of cash.

mjevans 10y ago
I actually like this idea. Lets take it a tiny bit further. To prevent the government from harassing you in to forced sales they don't intend to complete, make it a guaranteed minimum of the larger of 90% of the assessed value or 85% of the final sale price. Also the government, while the property is for sale, allows your continued use as previous and pays you 0.005% of the assessed value of the property //per month// for the privilege of listing it and allowing buyers to view it during normal business hours. At any time the government can cancel the deal and re-assess the value of the property, which shall be official retroactively for tax purposes (as far back as re-filing is allowed). At any time the current owners can cancel the deal, but then agree that the valued price is fair and valid as well as are required to hold the property for a full year after the cancellation.
repsilat 10y ago
Another fix is to let you set the value yourself, and treat it as a standing offer to sell (at some premium, maybe.)
- ThrustVectoring 10y ago
  That runs into the problem of incentivizing various poison-pill type strategies to make it expensive in other ways to accept the standing offer to sell. Like, a high-level mobster could easily list their properties well below market rate while letting it be known to potential buyers that actually trying to purchase the property means saying goodbye to your kneecaps. There's a similar corruption issue on the government-sets-buy-price side, where unscrupulous officials can transfer wealth to individuals, but at least the corruption there is much more able to be audited.
cududa 10y ago
I'm sure the troica will accept this and make it a plank of the next payment traunch...

gohrt 10y ago

"tenants of property tax" would be a rental tax ;-)

gnopgnip 10y ago

The fix is to locally elect the property tax assessors. If they are dramatically overvaluing property they will not be re elected.