38 replies to this topic

[JohnsonBox]

Today a Chinese guy who has got his PhD degree and worked in America for 5 years said that China's house and land policy may be better than that of America. His reason is: although China does not allow land to be owned privately, but it gives the house buyer 70 years of the right of use (of house and land. The buyer pays house tax and land tax in a lump sum when buying). Americans have the private
ownership of their house and land, but they have to pay tax for the house and land every year (land tax: 1%-4%, one year late in paying the tax will lead to the land being confiscated and auctioned off by government), ; so in less than 50 years, the overall sum of the tax they have paid will be equal to the cost of the house and land.Besides, your son has to pay 45% inheritance tax after your death.

The reason sounds skeptical in my ears. If Ameica is so bad, why does he continue to stay in America and not come back to China?

[+goretsky]

Hello,

I believe property taxes vary based on the municipality. On a home that I own, I pay an annual property tax, that comes out to maybe 0.5% the worth of the house? Or, in other words, if house were assessed at $100,000, I pay $500 in taxes on it per year. As stated, that likely varies greatly on a city-by-city basis, so houses in an unincorporated area of the county might pay something different. My understanding is that the majority of the taxes collected go towards K-12 education.

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky

[Mr Nom Nom's]

JohnsonBox, on 20 January 2013 - 11:00, said:

Today a Chinese guy who has got his PhD degree and worked in America for 5 years said that China's house and land policy may be better that of America. His reason is: although China does not allow land to be owned privately, but it gives the house buyer 70 years of the right of use (of house and land. The buyer pays house tax and land tax in a lump sum when buying). Americans have the private
ownership of their house and land, but they have to pay tax for the house and land every year (land tax: 1%-4%, one year late in paying the tax will lead to the land being confiscated and auctioned off by government), ; so in less than 50 years, the overall sum of the tax they have paid will be equal to the cost of the house and land.Besides, your son has to pay 45% inheritance tax after your death.

The reason sounds skeptical in my ears. If Ameica is so bad, why does he continue to stay in America and not come back to China?

Such a system is unworkable and broken - just look at the property bubble in China and the incentive for the local government to keep an unsustainable bubble going via the ever increasing one off taxes that roll in. Reminds me very much of the situation in Australia with their stamp duty to the point that when the housing market collapsed the results were pretty horrific to local government budgets. I also have to ask what problem is such a Chinese system mean to solve? As for local taxes - you pay council rates to pay for water/roads/etc. so these taxes are hardly onerous.

[seta-san]

JohnsonBox, on 20 January 2013 - 11:00, said:

Today a Chinese guy who has got his PhD degree and worked in America for 5 years said that China's house and land policy may be better than that of America. His reason is: although China does not allow land to be owned privately, but it gives the house buyer 70 years of the right of use (of house and land. The buyer pays house tax and land tax in a lump sum when buying). Americans have the private
ownership of their house and land, but they have to pay tax for the house and land every year (land tax: 1%-4%, one year late in paying the tax will lead to the land being confiscated and auctioned off by government), ; so in less than 50 years, the overall sum of the tax they have paid will be equal to the cost of the house and land.Besides, your son has to pay 45% inheritance tax after your death.

The reason sounds skeptical in my ears. If Ameica is so bad, why does he continue to stay in America and not come back to China?

absolutely. it's what funds education k-12 education

[XerXis]

Belgium is the same, we pay taxes on the property we own each year, based on the size of the property.

[JamesCherrill]

Same in UK and France

[John S.]

Yes we do, my taxes are paid through my home loan, as many folks do while still paying off their home. My cousin inherited land my grandfather purchased and built a home on, his father had razed the original home-place and built a new home. After failing to pay the taxes for a few years, my cousin has been evicted and the property will be auctioned off soon. Why is America's system better? We own it and can retain it as long as we keep the taxes paid. Three generations were raised and lived on the land I mentioned, and could've remained in the family and handed down to my cousins children had he kept up the taxes.

[Rohdekill]

Well....technically you don't HAVE TO pay property taxes. However, most do if they prefer to keep living/owning the property.

[RandyC]

JamesCherrill, on 20 January 2013 - 12:34, said:

Same in UK and France

UK is a little different. The council tax you pay is a band system (A-H) and those are based on the market value that property was on 1st April 1991 or estimated to be if it wasn't built at the time. Had lots of fun with the local councils over the years as the system isn't very consistant and some houses have been mislabled resulting in hundreds of £££s in extra tax each year

[Growled]

I don't think there is a good and worse. Each place has the right to decide how they want to manage their property taxes.

[Raze]

My mother-in-law pays $0.00 in property taxes due to being retired on a fixed income and elderly, she saves nearly $2000.00/yr.

[ChrisJ1968]

Yes, My county who assesses property taxes each year lowered my tax due to the crashed housing market and the prices. I'm over my head right now.

[Stetson]

Many states also have homestead exemption laws, meaning that if a property is your only home then you can't be evicted just because you failed to pay taxes on it.

[ChrisJ1968]

Stetson, on 21 January 2013 - 02:19, said:

Many states also have homestead exemption laws, meaning that if a property is your only home then you can't be evicted just because you failed to pay taxes on it.

http://blog.captaloa...ead-exemptions/

[+zhiVago]

JohnsonBox, on 20 January 2013 - 11:00, said:

so in less than 50 years, the overall sum of the tax they have paid will be equal to the cost of the house and land.

It sounds like he did a comparative analysis on the overall cost of ownership vs renting.

Of course, if you can't own land in China, then no one can force you to pay property tax on it there!

Quote

Besides, your son has to pay 45% inheritance tax after your death.

This sucks.