• Rivalarrival@lemmy.today
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    22 days ago

    Owner Occupancy Credit.

    We establish an owner occupancy credit that reduces effective property tax rate on the property in which a homeowner resides. That credit is increased every time property taxes are raised, so the homeowner’s tax rate stays the same, or drops a bit.

    Now, we increase the property tax rate, which now only affects non-resident owners. Landlords. Investors. We target an 85% owner occupant rate. Any year the owner occupancy rate is below 80%, we increase the property taxes. Any year it is above 90%, we lower them again.

    Owner-occupants of duplexes, triplexes, quadplexes will qualify for the tax credit for the whole building, not just the single unit they occupy.

    “But won’t the landlord just pass the excess cost on to the tenant?” They will try to do that, sure. But that will increase the cost to rent from them, and savvy, private landlords will quickly figure out they can make the same profit and charge less if instead of “renting”, they issue a “land contract” or “private mortgage”. With either of these options, the “tenant” is converted into a buyer, and thus qualifies as an “owner occupant”. Remember: we’re increasing the tax rate every year that the owner occupancy rate is below 80%. Any landlord that insists on trying to rent is eventually going to have to charge extraordinarily high rates to break even, while investors who issue land contracts and private mortgages will be able to earn higher profits while charging less. Who is going to pay the high premium to rent a property when they can spend much less to buy it outright?

    Should a landlord lender decide to evict foreclose on a tenant buyer, that tax rate is going to skyrocket when they take possession. They will be much more motivated to cooperate with the occupant in order to avoid that exorbitant tax.