WM: The insensativity of this post is eerie. My friend Elmer is 83. He's lived in his house for dog years. When he bought it, it was cheap and all his kids were home. Now it's just him and his wife. Since then his house, once bought for not very much money, is worth a blue fortune by comparison. He does not want to leave his home. If he were to leave, statistics show that his life will be shortened, his medical and geriatric issues will become more severe, and he will die sooner than he would if he stayed home where he is loved and respected. He's a WWII vet; he fought in the Pacific through a terrifying war in a tropical climate. Fer a Minnesoootan, that's pain, doncha know. I want Elmer to live in his house till he dies. I feel better about my neighborhood knowing he's there and hoping that when he dies in 20 or 30 years (it could happen), we will bury him from his house with the dignity he deserves and all us chickens around.
Mark Anderson: Those retired people with expensive houses are consuming beyond their means. I guess I don't see it as the tragedy that others do when people have to downgrade their housing when their income declines. Property tax is a "voluntary" tax in the same sense that sales tax is, because the residents always have the choice to consume different housing.
He did not volunteer for the nutsy changes wrought in the real estate market in the past five years. He did not volunteer for tax giveaways to the more than comfortable middle class and the wealthy. If you hold with the notion of community, then you recognize that this is one of the ways that community gets maintained. It's also the difference between gentrification and rejuvenation of a neighborhood.
WizardMarks, Central
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