Quote:
Originally Posted by BloodFart
$owninghome = "renting from the government";
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Exactly!
Considering there's a lot of business savvy folks here, I'm surprised it took to reply #56 before someone mentioned the government really owns everyone's home...
While it's true that in some places property taxes are still nominal, in many others, such as southeastern Pennsylvania where I live, property taxes are quite steep ($5,000-$7,000 year is common on modest $150K-$200K homes), and continue to rapidly increase, especially the school district portion.
Also, there are other government mandated fees (as in not paying can result in loss of property) that can be far larger than one would imagine, in particular, water and sewer.
In Reading, PA there are many people living in small row homes paying $150+ per month for water/sewer, though that's a bargain compared to what some families in Birdsboro, PA who pay upwards of $500 per month!
And then are various new government mandates and fees coming down the pike, including, in Pennsylvania, a new law requiring municipalities to install expensive filters on all storm drainage basins, plus additional labor to inspect and change filters on a regular basis - many small municipalities in PA will be facing bills nearly as large as their entire annual budgets to comply - currently the law is on hold, but likely for not long. Much of those costs will passed on to home owners in the form of higher property taxes and/or water/sewer rates.
Another proposed law making its way through, such as Reading, PA, would require all property owners, including residential, to pay a "rain runoff" tax based on the square footage of property covered with structures, parking lots, etc.
Homeowners are easy tax targets, since many have bought the "American Dream" nonsense while many others realize it's a crock, but are "trapped" and have little choice other than to raid their retirement, take out loans, etc to "save" their home, which, to reiterate, is a misnomer, since the government really owns it.
Ron