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‘My Property Tax Went From $15K to a Life-Altering $91K a Year’
(www.yahoo.com)
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this post was submitted on 15 May 2025
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Hot take: I’m all for fair taxation. But I also believe that if you’ve paid off your home and intend to maintain it and retire in it, you should own it outright no matter what, and no property tax should keep you from keeping and living in your own home.
In China, not the most free of nations, once you’ve paid for a home, it’s yours, forever. Property taxes aren’t a thing there like they are here. If you’re old and no longer have much of an income, you still have your home. If you become disabled, sick, or mentally ill, and can’t work like you used to, you don’t become homeless for lack of ability to pay property tax, you still have your own home.
Look, China has a lot of problems, and I’m not saying we should copy everything they do. But one problem they don’t have is homelessness or people losing homes over property taxes.
I agree, we should replace property taxes with very large income and wealth taxes. First we can end property taxes and then we can implement guaranteed income so people who become disabled can afford to maintain their homes.
The thing about yearly property taxes is they often go to the city/municipality and that's how they pay for things.
The city doesn't charge income tax, that's a state/province/fed level type thing.
We'd need a new way for cities to collect taxes themselves, or a new system to properly and fairly distribute taxes from the incomes to the cities/municipalities where they live.
Definitely doable, but it's a bit different than just raising income taxes.
Some municipalities may also have an income tax (completely separate from state or federal income taxes). Other states have much larger sales taxes.
We already have this is many states in the USA. Its called the "Homestead Exemption". Here's an example from Ohio:
"This is a statewide program, administered by County Auditors under rules established by the Ohio Legislature and the Ohio Department of Taxation. This allows senior citizens (65 or older) as well as permanently and totally disabled homeowners to reduce their real estate taxes by the amount equal to the taxes that would otherwise be charged on $25,000 of the market value of an eligible taxpayer’s homestead or residence. The homestead may include up to one acre of land. Under the changes made by the Ohio Legislature and beginning with applications for tax year 2014, new participants in the program will be subject to an income test to be eligible."
So matter how big your house is (as long as its on one acre of land or less and you have an income $$75k/year or below) you only get charged as though the house is worth $25k, which I think would obviously be a very low tax bill.
This is incorrect. In China nobody owns a home. They get a lease on it from the government. For wealthy urban Chinese this has meant they get lifetime ownership so far, but this is not guaranteed.
Also if you are not born with the correct hukou then you are not allowed to purchase any valuable property at all.