3 ms·
If you are a digital nomad you are still only occupying one space at a time. Bigger picture though, there’s a major contradiction in housing around the world a
by throw__away7391 3y ago
If you are a digital nomad you are still only occupying one space at a time.
Bigger picture though, there’s a major contradiction in housing around the world and that is that owners who tend to be older and more likely to vote benefit enormously from rising home prices and governments which collect property tax as a percentage of property value receive more revenue when prices rise. Both groups have grown to depend on perpetually rising property values and factored it into their long term financial plans. There are numerous ways this is achieved that vary somewhat from location to location but the result is the same. After years of housing simply eating up more and more of renters and new homebuyers income we are reaching a breaking point and governments are looking for something other than their own policies (which they have every intention of continuing) to blame.
Governments if so motivated have numerous tools at their disposal to reduce home prices, which all in all is probably easier than the reverse. There are a handful of governments which have successfully done this, but the ones that haven’t won’t do this because they’d simultaneously anger both property owners and recipients of government spending which would need to be cut.
- midasuni 3y agoIn the U.K. there is no tax related to house prices, just relative prices. If prices double from 250k to 500k government doesn’t get any more money. The fault is entirely with those who don’t want more housing built. The government can use this as a wedge issue and blame immigrants (the ones who work and pay taxes) rather than the wealthy retirees
- throw__away7391 3y agoI don’t think we disagree. The details do vary from place to place, but I think the overall dynamics remain. The established lot has grown accustomed to feeding on ongoing price increases in an unsustainable manner. Any changes that would make housing more affordable would disrupt their financial expectations in ways that are unthinkable to them, so they’re trying to squeeze every other option available.