David Brauer said:
<It's no fun having to vote for
> reckless spenders, but the GOP in the last several years has only
> offered
> the alternative of feckless social conservatives and fiscal
> unsophisticates
> even more out of touch with the city public than the institutional
> DFL is.
Ouch! That hurt.
Let me offer an unsophisticated conservative idea: high property taxes
discourage the purchasing (and rehabbing?) of rental housing stock in
Minneapolis - especially by the average-non-corporate-Joe. We talk an
aweful lot about the "affordable housing crisis," yet there are buildings
galore which currently sit empty. Does anyone else see the irony here?
Under the current property tax system, it is often cost-prohibitive to
purchase an apartment building... even a multi-family house! Here's an
example: my duplex was not homesteaded when I bought it. Most of you
are likely familiar with the rule that it takes a year for a change in
this status to be implemented with regard to your bill. In otherwords,
upon purchasing my big, sadly-unloved former crack-den, I was stuck with
a tax bill of over $1K.
No matter what kind of cool mortgage options are made available, (the
best by private banks) it is still very difficult for low-income people
to purchase homes with taxes where they are.
Also, we are all familiar with the fact that landlords pass high tax cost
onto tenants... so there's another problem.
Connie Sheppard
Ward 6 - Ventura Village
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