Property Tax Rate in Hawaii is only 0.27% of home value! We should all move there

[^_^ 5,021]

Wow! Texas is up their with N.J. That kinda jives with what my Texas friends have been telling me.

Abolish Texas property taxes? Then what?

There's an idea making the rounds that suggests Texas simply repeal the tax and replace it with a sales tax. Texans should be very wary: This isn't just bad policy, it's worse.

The property tax produces more than $40 billion a year to fund the state's 4,000 local governments, including cities, counties and school districts. Texas doesn't provide local governments with many other tax options, so the property tax provides 80 percent of all of local tax revenue.

It would take a whale of a sales tax to replace that revenue. Based on state estimates, a 25 percent sales tax on the current tax base would be needed to replace the property tax and provide as much revenue. The state already relies on sales tax for more than half of its total tax revenue.

That means ... the Texas sales tax rate would be more than double the current highest sales tax nationally and far higher than states like New York, which typically are viewed as high-tax states.

...

The swap might be "revenue neutral," in raising the same amount of money, but it wouldn't be "tax neutral" for taxpayers. Depending on whether you pay a lot of sales tax or own land, you could see a large swing in your tax bill.

The plan also would give an immense tax break to out-of-state property owners who would get a massive property tax cut but wouldn't necessarily pay anything in sales tax.

...

This idea should be left where it was hatched -- in academic studies, consultant reports and think tanks. It isn't a real-world strategy.

Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/2012/07/31/4142211/hamilton-abolish-texas-property.html#storylink=cpy

[mawilson 2,133]

The same is true on a more local level. I live in the NYC metro area and if I had a need to live near a commuting train station and I only had 350K to spend and I need a train line that runs till 2AM because of the nature of my job, my non-HOA options are extremely limited.

Summit, NJ is a good location if you want a convenient commute to NYC.

[^_^ 5,021]

Summit, NJ is a good location if you want a convenient commute to NYC.

Yes and because it's a good location it's also quite pricey.

This POS is 470K.

Edited August 3, 2012 by Habitual Offender

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Or, be like California, and have both. That is the problem with tax policy -- one form of taxation rarely just replaces another forever.

[mawilson 2,133]

Yes and because it's a good location it's also quite pricey.

This POS is 470K.

Why POS?

[^_^ 5,021]

Why POS?

Because I can't afford it

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Because I can't afford it

The fox and the grapes?

[^_^ 5,021]

The fox and the grapes?

What does that mean?

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

What does that mean?

Sour grapes, out of reach, and all that.

[^_^ 5,021]

Oh I didn't know there was a fox in that story.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Oh I didn't know there was a fox in that story.

The Fox and the Grapes

Aesop

Once upon a time there was a fox strolling through the woods.

He came upon a grape orchard. There he found a bunch of

beautiful grapes hanging from a high branch.

"Boy those sure would be tasty," he thought to himself.

He backed up and took a running start, and jumped.

He did not get high enough.

He went back to his starting spot and tried again.

He almost got high enough this time, but not quite.

He tried and tried, again and again, but just couldn't get high

enough to grab the grapes.

Finally, he gave up.

As he walked away, he put his nose in the air and said:

"I am sure those grapes are sour."

Moral

IT IS EASY TO SCORN WHAT YOU CANNOT GET.