Living Beyond Your Means and the Great American Whine

[bleedingheart]

I live in Western Pennsylvania and fortunately for us there is a fair amount of reasonably priced housing compared to California, Arizona, etc...

So in our area if you choose to live in a $300K and up house, it is basically your decision to do so. People may say that they were "forced" to, but that is not the case because in my community there are homes that sell for $400K and those that sell for $100K...the lower priced homes typically will need a bit of work but they are generaly good solid homes.

Given the options, you would think that people would "think through" their decision to buy their home. Since our schools are funded through propery taxes the bigger and more expensive your house the more you pay in property taxes. Whether that is fair or not is not my concern in this thread because whether people like it or not, that is the way it has been for as long as I have been alive and until a new system comes up...that is the way it is going to be.

So it appears that a lot of these people buying these new homes are just pissed that they are paying more in property taxes than those who have homes that cost a fraction of what their home does. They are whining and bitching and crying that they are "footing the bill" for those of us in the less expensive homes.

Well all I have to say is I have no pity for them because they wanted their big house but apparently didn't have enough sense to look at all the expenses associated with that extra square footage.
So are they footing my electric bill because their's is twice as high??? Are they paying for my gas bill because their's is twice is high???
Are they mad because I have more free time or more money because I don't have to hire someone to clean my house because I have less square footage???????

Oh they whine and whine....but for christsakes there are people out there that can't even afford to pay for groceries and these people knowingly put themselves in these situations and now they are whining non stop. It is truly pathetic and I know that it will always be this way but it never fails to make me sick.

[bryant69]

1. It's human nature

I can't imagine there are more than a handful, even among the very wealthy, that think, "Well I basically have all that I need. I guess things are going good."

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[elehhhhna]

2. Same here in TX. 300K just buys lotsa time & trouble,

and you'd better have the cars & clothes to match.

[toddaa]

3. Flaw in your theory

Let's say I live in one of these 100K houses. Right next to my property is a large chunk of land that has been sold off to a developer who comes in and builds a bunch of 500K+ McMansion type homes. All of sudden, my little 100K house's land is reassessed at a much higher price and I'm taxed right out of my own home. This is happening to a lot of elderly people who no longer can afford the home they live in, even though they may have payed off their mortgage. What's more, a lot of farmers with land close to these suburban wastelands are finding themselves also taxed right off their land. They have no choice but to sell out to developers, who turn around and slap together 1 or 2 hundred more "executive" homes for a run away housing market.

[bleedingheart]

4. but yet the people in the $500K homes still feel they are paying for

the elderly widow next door whose taxes are still less because she has a 1200sq ft ranch and they have a 3700sq foot two story home with vaulted ceilings.... In my area...she is paying $1800 a year at most and they are paying $4000 a year...

[DebinTx]

5. We built our custom home

in '99 and then the county appraisal district did their appraisal, only to turn around and redo my appraisal over in just 2 years while the other neighborhoods (slightly older) weren't touched. Of course, my appraisal shot way up and goes up 10% per year (as allowed by law). I've protested every year but with not much success. I imagine that most property owners are having similar reappraisals done and the higher amounts are what they're complaining about.

As for property taxes funding the schools, the states are paying less and less every year while demanding more and more, same as with the federal government yet it's the property owner than is paying the bulk of the education bill. Add to that the cost of educating illegal immigrants and you can see why people complain when their tax bills go up.

What we need is an across the country tax revolt. Living in a wholly red state, where the repubs campaigned on property tax relief, which they still haven't managed to take care of but made a priority of making sure that cheerleaders aren't flaunting themselves and banning gays from adopting, will surely hurt the repubs reelection chances. So let the property owners whine, because it's the republicans who haven't been able to do their jobs and should be kicked to the curb.

[bleedingheart]

8. In PA, former Govenor Ridge cut the 50% matching funds that the

state provided each district to around 35% and as a result...of course the property taxes had to go up. It is an ugly cycle.

I don't begrudge anyone buying a bigger home, in fact my husband and I have considered it but we know that our tax bill would double if not triple in relation to what we pay now.

[xchrom]

6. one thing i will say about this. property taxes are

another way that the middle class and working class are supporting the rich.

we pay more than our fair share in those taxes -- another way needs to be found to raise that money for society{government}.

they ''punish'' the middle and working classes.

that's all.

[Mizmoon]

7. My property taxes are KILLING ME

I have nothing else to say. :banghead: