#Politics Listening to a livestream feed from an Alabama radio station. They claim that African-Americans will vote en masse for #Trump in November because "Democrats are about to ban menthol cigarettes."
(Which would be a pretty neat trick with Republicans in the House majority.)
Turns out the truth is that nation's oldest group representing Black physicians just sued the FDA because the agency had *not* banned menthol cigarettes.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/02/health/menthol-tobacco-fda-lawsuit/index.html
#Politics Just came back from ten days in California, meaning I was exposed to #Trump conspiracy theories while I travelled.
I overheard a Trumper claim that #California had passed an "exit tax." He claimed that, to move out of California, one must pay a tax.
Turns out there *is* such a tax, but it only applies to individuals who make $30 million+/year. Even so, you pay only 0.4% on the amount *over* $30 million.
If you make $50 million, your tax would be $80,000.
https://www.luxuryrealestate.com/blog/2024/02/13/21239-understanding-ca-exit-tax
@WordsmithFL Sorry but that's still messed up, imagine if that slippery slope caught on for all citizens.
I am wondering what the rationale behind it is. Beyond "give us your money."
@BlueStateBabe #California's budget revenues are a roller coaster due to Props 13 and 4 in the 1970s. The state and localities were forced to shift revenue sources to other sources.
(Disclosure: I was a budget analyst for a CA municipality, and later a finance commissioner for the same city.)
I suspect the rationale is that these rich people built their wealth off the state's resources, and now they're going to walk without contributing their fair share.
Makes sense.
That said, I moved to CA in the 70's just as real estate began to abnormally skyrocket in value. Homeowner's were losing their homes due to taxes.
By the time I was old enough to consider homeownership, thankfully prop 13 was in place. Then I moved to Oregon. Taxes went from $700 per year on a 1300sf home with a thousand sf outbuilding on 2+ acres, to $2700/year on an 1100 sf 2bdrm townhouse. Ouch.
@BlueStateBabe Prop 13 only applied if you were the homeowner at the time it passed. After that, a new owner would have to pay the new rate, limited to (I think) a 2% increase per year.
Cities started creating assessment districts to circumvent Props 13 and 4. What people think are high property taxes usually are all sorts of assessments for common utilities and infrastructure.
Younger generations believe that older generations holding on to their houses has caused the housing shortage.
What they don't understand is that "buying down" in size is still generally buying up in price. And yes, the sale of the house will likely cover the cost of the new dwelling, but the new yearly taxes will be unaffordable.
@BlueStateBabe We invested in our condo upgrades to make the propert turn-key. We were able to sell the condo at the worst of the Great Recession for what we were asking. Agents were telling us to drop out price $50K. We sold to the first family in the door.
Our Florida house belonged to snowbirds. They were desperate to move the house. We lowballed them and they accepted.
We've invested in regular upgrades, so easily it's worth more than double what we paid in 2009.
@WordsmithFL I understand your 2% number to be correct.
@BlueStateBabe
@WordsmithFL Essentially, my taxes stayed the same with the rate based upon purchase price. However, every improvement made was used to boost the tax value. I made so many improvements my taxes doubled. But as I said, it was still only $700.
Oregon has some limitations on the increase, but they are SO much higher. And as you said, many assessments. With yearly propositions to add more. It is really challenging.