Author Topic: Why are we subsidizing property taxes of millionaires?  (Read 1960 times)

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Offline kimmy

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Re: Why are we subsidizing property taxes of millionaires?
« on: February 05, 2017, 08:28:41 pm »
If that's her choice, that's her right, but I don't see why others should be required to subsidize her decision. Especially renters who didn't get to benefit from the housing market windfall, and young workers who might never be able to afford home ownership in BC at the rate real estate prices are growing.

It might be unfair that property taxes could potentially force seniors to sell their homes and move, but there are a lot of unfair things going on in the housing market, and I'm not sure that millionaires having to pay taxes even cracks the top 10.  The phrase "asset rich, cash poor" is often heard among retired people who have solid assets, like a paid-for home, but lack funds to pay their expenses, such as property taxes.  Well, there are financial strategies designed to resolve this dilemma by borrowing against the value of their home.   She gets to keep her home, the rest of us don't have to subsidize her taxes, and everybody wins... except for maybe her heirs who inherit a slightly smaller estate once her loan is paid off.

But it's slightly annoying that we always have to talk about the sad old widow as if she's the representative for everybody whose property taxes are going up.  I think the truth is that she's actually not typical at all, I think she's actually a pretty rare exception. What if instead of talking about her, we talk about a well-off double-income couple who bought their home before real estate prices exploded and are laughing all the way to the bank?  Why should they get a subsidy?  They do, after all. These subsidies aren't means-tested.

It seems to me that this whole concept is tremendously unfair-- the government is providing over $800 million in financial assistance to the wealthiest British Columbians, money that's coming, in many cases, from people who will never accumulate the amount of wealth as the people whose property taxes they're subsidizing.

It's disgusting and perverse.

 -k
Paris - London - New York - Kim City