HP'ers have been pointing this out for awhile - that states and cities are cashing in (and spending every dime) with their new housing-bubble-generated sales tax and property tax revenues.
Now that the bubble is over, the ATM is closed and home prices are falling, what do you think the states and cities will do?
1) Instruct assessors to value houses at fair value - based on "what the market will bear"
2) Nothing - just keep the property taxes pouring in based on the new inflated values, raping the ARM-resetting homedebtors even more than they ever imagined possible
CNN: The Hottest Part of the Housing Market: Taxes - home prices may be slowing, but property taxes are heading nowhere but up.
Don't get mad - get relief. Homeowners across the country are angry about their property taxes, and it's no wonder. Skyrocketing home values and sticky-fingered politicians combined to push property tax collections up 35% from 2002 to 2006, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
That's double the rate of personal income growth, and the consumer backlash has intensified. Tax-cut proposals are being considered in at least 15 states, the National Taxpayers Union reports. In Arizona an effort to roll back property assessments to 2003 levels recently failed. But in May the governor of Texas signed legislation that replaces property taxes earmarked for schools with a 1% tax on businesses.
October 06, 2006
Here's the big scam - housing prices wildly overinflated and collapsing, real estate taxes at new "valuations" and soaring
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45 comments:
Pay your damn taxes and quit bitching about it. If you don't want to pay taxes then you should be deported.
Speaking of Government Real Estate Tax windfalls, is Poker Crime about the Government tax revenues lost or legislating morality?
Regulate, tax online poker and everyone wins
Our view: Congressional conservatives should recognize the revenue potential
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 07.14.2006
Bolcerek, the Poker Players Alliance president, said a study found that the federal government would reap $3.3 billion and the states about $1 billion in annual revenues by taxing and regulating online poker.
House Passes Bill to Restrict Internet Poker
Legislation Would Forbid Use of Electronic Payments
By Shailagh Murray and James V. Grimaldi
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, July 12, 2006; Page A01
The biggest losers could be the estimated 23 million Americans who play poker over the Internet. "This bill would needlessly make outlaws of the millions of adult Americans who enjoy online poker, and is the latest example of how our representatives in Congress are ignoring real issues facing our country," warned the grass-roots Poker Players Alliance, in an alert to its more than 25,000 members.
Why is it that the interest in your blog is down for housing and up for politics?
Why don't you just change the direction of your blog ... you're never going to be able to compete w/ Ben's site.
All you have to do is go to his site and how many more comments are written for each subject line.
Even though you deleted my blog I will still post here!
Hot off the rumor mill,
———————————-
Sent: Tuesday, October 03, 2006 10:02 AM
To: DL HOV Associates
Subject: TO ALL HOVNANIAN ASSOCIATES
Importance: High
PLEASE DISTRIBUTE TO THOSE ASSOCIATES WHO DO NOT HAVE ACCESS TO EMAIL.
MEMORANDUM TO: All Associates
FROM: Ara K. Hovnanian
DATE: October 3, 2006
Fellow Associates,
A few months ago I wrote to you about the changing market conditions in our industry and our concerns about how long the downturn in homebuilding may last. Since that time, the market has slowed further still, representing one of the steepest declines in new home sales in our memory. Most of our markets have been affected, some severely. At this point, we are preparing for a long period of slower sales, at least through 2007 and perhaps beyond.
What does this mean for you and for our Company? These new market conditions have affected us in many ways and will continue to affect us in the months ahead. In the area of land acquisition we have been re-evaluating our current land positions and the contracts for new land in the light of these new conditions. Many of those contracts no longer make good financial sense when you factor in lower prices and a slower sales pace. In cases where we have been unable to renegotiate these contracts with more favorable terms, we are canceling them, at times forfeiting our deposit monies. It is important to state that in all cases where we have canceled contracts, we have acted legally and with integrity, adhering to the very specific terms of those contracts and exercising previously agreed-upon terms of cancellation. We continue to have an ample supply of land for our future growth, but we need to be sure that the communities we develop can be profitable.
Our local and national Purchasing teams have been pro-actively working with our service providers, material suppliers and trade partners to find ways to reduce our costs, through better pricing, defect reduction and product specification changes. We have been successful in many of our Business Units in finding significant cost reductions through cooperation with our business partners. We continue to work on ways to reduce costs.
We have also had to make adjustments to our pricing in order to make sales, either through added features, free options, waived premiums or outright base price reductions. In a market where our competitors are making dramatic pricing concessions, we must make similar adjustments in order to remain competitive. Obviously, this has a significant impact on our profits on those homes that we sell at a discount.
The most difficult adjustment we have had to make to the changing market is in the area of staffing. In many locations, including corporate headquarters, we have been forced to face the fact that we no longer have enough work for all of our Associates. We were hoping that normal attrition and a reduction in new hires would prevent us from needing to take further action. Those steps helped, but did not solve the problem of having too little work for our entire team. As a result, we have had to make staff reductions.
We consider this action to be a last resort, but business realities demand action in order for our Company to remain healthy and to maximize our performance in a difficult market environment. We know that this causes pain not only for the families of displaced Associates, but for our remaining Associates as well. In all cases, we are treating our displaced Associates fairly and with dignity. We are providing severance and outplacement services where they are available. There may need to be more adjustments if the market continues to slow. We will make those decisions with great care and sensitivity and we will try to keep you well informed of any changes.
What can you do to help us continue to prosper during these challenging times? First and foremost, you can continue to focus on delighting our customers. Companies with “raving fans” prosper during good times and bad. We have made great improvements in this area, but we have much room for continued improvement. Regardless of the market conditions, we will continue to invest resources and support to further our goal of being an industry leader in customer satisfaction. Don’t let a soft market deter you from doing everything you can to create a great customer experience.
Second, you can help us to eliminate waste and rework, which costs our Company literally millions of dollars each year, by focusing on process improvement and defect and error reduction. Help us to eliminate unnecessary costs by spending our money wisely. Here at Corporate headquarters, we launched a “great idea” program where Associates submitted nearly 200 ideas for cost savings, generating the potential for huge savings. In just one example, our new contract for overnight shipping services in switching to DHL will save us up to a million dollars annually! There are many such opportunities all around our Company and we need you to help us identify them.
Finally, you can continue to do the great work you do for our Company every day. Challenging times allow the best and the brightest to truly shine. We have a lot of work to do and thousands of homes to sell, build, close and service. We all need to keep our heads down and get the job done, every day.
As always, and for good reason, I remain highly optimistic about the future. Our Company is very strong financially. With $1.5 billion in our credit facility, a strong cash position and $2 billion in shareholder equity, we have the capital resources needed to weather the storm and to position ourselves to take full advantage of the opportunities that markets like these always present. The market will gain strength eventually, and we will be poised and ready to take full advantage of it. We will emerge from this market stronger and better.
Thanks to each and every one of you for all you do to help us become THE BEST homebuilder in the nation.
I find it funny that someone buys a house for say, 500k
Over the last several years the price increases to 1mil
Now the value slowly going downward to say 940k
And the seller is livid at their loss......What loss?
If it sells, that's a nice little profit of 440k
Stop ur bitch'n
depending of course on how much they owe have pulled out to fuel their material lusts!
Pay your damn taxes and quit bitching about it. If you don't want to pay taxes then you should be deported.
---------
deported you say, where to a foreign land..wake up from your glue induced coma. The US of A is a foreign land full of Immigrants.
And property taxes are out of wack 1960/1970ish formulas are not working anymore.
HA HA HA
I am the flipper,who paid almost nothing for your house. Then paid maybe land value taxes on your house. Then sold it to you in 2005 doubled my money from you, bought gold and stuck you with the 0 down ARM and a huge tax bill. YES SUCKER THAT WAS ME, IT'S LIKE YOU GAVE ME A FREE bL** j**.
tHEN I WILL NAIL YOUR WIFE AFTER YOU GET FORECLOSED. YES I AM A BAS@@@d BUT I LOVE SCREWING IDIOTS LIKE YOU.
Over the last several years the price increases to 1mil
And they are taxed at the previous 1 million figure.
lots of angry realtor trolls today! must be a slow friday when the phones aren't ringing anymore!
As I am looking to buy a home, property taxes are a concern. A lot of older homes, that of course are asking way to much $$, advertise their low property taxes. If I buy at the inflated asking price, I end up raising my own taxes. So, the lure of low property taxes is another realtor "untruth" - they don't tell you that you're going to smacked with a higher tax along with your overpriced sh*t box you just bought.
Yes Keith, it's all unwinding
http://tinyurl.com/ne998
yep, free fall, no saving this one...
(Looks to me like the Fed still has a few more rabbits left in the hat.)
HA HA HA
I am the flipper,who paid almost nothing for your house. Then paid maybe land value taxes on your house. Then sold it to you in 2005 doubled my money from you, bought gold and stuck you with the 0 down ARM and a huge tax bill. YES SUCKER THAT WAS ME, IT'S LIKE YOU GAVE ME A FREE bL** j**.
tHEN I WILL NAIL YOUR WIFE AFTER YOU GET FORECLOSED. YES I AM A BAS@@@d BUT I LOVE SCREWING IDIOTS LIKE YOU.
-----------------
You couldn't screw a notch in a tree non the less someones wife.
When it comes to keeping the higher home taxes in the hands of government, just look up who had jobs during the depression. And to the blogger a few articals back who won at fliping homes, we shouldn't brag about our great gain, I've been playing the game too for years. No, what we need to do is put ourselves into a position to help those who lost everything because we are Americans, we stand for something that the whole world is looking for, they need the direction that our forefathers gave us, hope.
BORKAFATTY-
As yourself this. Do you really believe what your wife just told you. Or is it that you have no confidence at all as a man.
The city that is covered by the school district where my ex-wife lives could not get the lumpen in the town to approve any higher property taxes so they did the next best thing - sell bonds. A modest new house there will carry a tax liability twice what is charged in the surrounding area already. I guess that if you can't get the idiots there now to saddle up with more debt, do the next best thing and put it off on the future generation. This is an idiot town near St. Louis that bought farm property to build a sewage treatment plant at $10,000 per acre. The dolts who govern haven't a clue and are too busy blowing smoke up each other's asses about what a great town they have to see that they are slowly but surely taking the high hard one for vanity - the power to tax is the power to destroy.
BORAFATTY-
That picure is your wife so don't worry no one wants to nail that. You can have it all for yourself.
CHUCKLE CHUCKLE
what we need to do is put ourselves into a position to help those who lost everything because we are Americans, we stand for something that the whole world is looking for, they need the direction that our forefathers gave us, hope.
---No offence sir, but you want to help and be a stand up american?
Stop using lenders that push toxic loans on otherwise Uninformed sheep. If they do not qualify for a 30 year fixed mortgage obviously they can not afford it.
To Anonymous Who Wants Hope---
I only flipped houses to immigrants, not Americans. Those greedy little immigrants who lied to me telling me the house was for their mother to live in. They lied so that their real intention, which was to buy the house rent it and watch values go up. But fortunately for us Americans we screwed em good and hard.
Now one of the wifes of the immigrants is routinely complaining about her finances to me and what an idiot her husband is. I listened intently while moving her mouth to my crotch. This time I left a deposit instead of taking one from their bank.
BORKAFATTY-
As yourself this. Do you really believe what your wife just told you. Or is it that you have no confidence at all as a man.
-------
No anonymous you are the man..at least that is what the guy in the cubicle next to you said, as he was wiping his mouth.
You are really tossing around a hot potato when you get anywhere near the property taxes here in PA.
The tax gods can tell the bureau of assessments to re-evaluate their particular area. If they (the assessors) don't jack the housing prices up to match the cash outlay that the school district's administrators association and teachers union have decided they "deserve" to give themselves their already overpaid salaries and cradle to grave benefit package increases, they just instruct the
totally cowed and gutless school boards to raise millage.
Same way with the county supervisors and the worker's unions.
Should be real interesting if property values go DOWN here as the bubble ripples out, as our school board has almost topped out their millage (limited by law to 25mils.) Usually they reassess, and then lower the millage on the higher assessed property values, and starts the climb back up to the 25mil mark and then start the process all over again.
Never a bubble here, maybe moderate bubble awareness, but those friends and acquaintenences that do have houses for sale (no flippers or bubble prices) are not finding buyers, some having listed over a year! What little housing activity we DO HAVE in our neck of the woods had dried up completely, overnight!
I would love to see the taxing authorities locked in to a strict budget, with no recourse but to live within that budget because their income is flat lining (or going down), since the tax laws that once gave them total omnipotence over the home owning taxpayer may very soon start working against them.
But that’s not going to happen. The parasites (elected public servants)
know who writes the re-election campaign checks. When the tax laws shift to favor the little guy, it’s a sure bet that mistake will be 'corrected' very quickly!
After all "Its all for the kids”, “You want good education, DON"T YOU?" Sorry, its all for money, politics, and power. The kids got sold down the river along with their taxpaying parents and all the other taxpayers long ago. Sad.
Hey Borkafatty Read This:
Yep he is the guy the poor little sucker like you---
I am the one who popped your wife.
Sent her to the abortion clinic.
Dumped her on her ass.
Flipped houses to her and hubby.
Banged his wife for fun when he lost the house.
Kept money in cash got the 20 year old beautiful wife.
No wonder I hate Fooking Flippers.
Anon said:
"Pay your damn taxes and quit bitching about it. If you don't want to pay taxes then you should be deported."
Property taxes are un-American. You can not really own land in the U.S. because of them. Is that freedom? Taxes should be consumption based, not pay up or lose the house you THOUGHT you owned.
Keith,
In San Diego after the last 1990s bust, you could go down to the county tax office and request your property be re-appraised for taxable value. Many did and had their taxes reduced.
borkafatty said...
Hey Borkafatty Read This:
Yep he is the guy the poor little sucker like you---
I am the one who popped your wife.
Sent her to the abortion clinic.
Dumped her on her ass.
Flipped houses to her and hubby.
Banged his wife for fun when he lost the house.Kept money in cash got the 20 year old beautiful wife.
------------------------------
Gee anono with all this Nailing, and poping talk, it sounds like to me your not getting laid at all, but desperate, there are a few anon's here that can accommodate you I am sure..Mostly men tho and republican care givers, but hey whats the difference right a dump is a dump right big guy.
Abortion clinic you say..how does it feel to stop by your place of birth?
20 year old wife ya right "NO ABLA ENGLAY" With that Needle dick you couldn't pop a balloon.
do me a favor big dick flip flopper guy, shine my shoes like the bitch that you are have them back in an hour, here is a quarter, go buy a mag obviously YOU! need to rub one off.
At the city I work for, we got juicy raises and are keeping the house values high to fund our raises & pensions. In the land of the stupid and greedy, the sheeple won't even notice as they are too busy buying some stupid hummer to even notice that we are draining their bank accounts.
At the city I work for, we got juicy raises and are keeping the house values high to fund our raises & pensions. In the land of the stupid and greedy, the sheeple won't even notice as they are too busy buying some stupid hummer to even notice that we are draining their bank accounts.
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Hey you should hook up with the anon above..he to is looking to get a hummer and get screwed.
I am extremely pleased that property taxes are way up. We should just eliminate income tax and replace the revenue with property taxes.
hoa votes to allow only cash buyers, drops the price {VALUE?} 90%, SAYING THAT PROPERTY TAXES WILL DROP 90% THUS FAVORING LONG TERM COMMUNITYISM. TOTAL THOSE NUMBERS OF LOCAL TIN HORN DICTATORS, VRS 4 GENERATIONS OF AFFORDABLE HEDGED HOUSING, OR THE COSTS OF DEFERED BORROWINGS AND ENSLAVED GENERATIONAL CHILDREN!!!??? AS THE COSTS
Hey BORAFATTY
Abortion is what should have happened to you.
How come you never can blog at night--Mommy playing with your little thing?????
Also trust me you should be half the man I am. Your mother was quite the bitch, when I spanked her ass.
Hey BORAFATTY
Abortion is what should have happened to you.
How come you never can blog at night--Mommy playing with your little thing?????
Also trust me you should be half the man I am. Your mother was quite the bitch, when I spanked her ass.
------------
Since we are on the subject of mothers...would you like to say hi to your's?
wait she cant talk at the moment..her mouth is full.
Very interesting Stuck in So Pa - I had no idea PA was limited to 25 mils. Who needs to vote on that to increase it? I will check that out. Thanks for he info.
I pray that we get a better tax plan than Rendell's tax transfer plan (pay more in income tax in exchange for 100 dollars back in pt). Everyone should pay property taxes, not just those of us who saved and worked hard to buy a house. I am also concerned about our schools placing second from the bottom out of the 50 states. At least if they performed well my money would be going to good use.
Anonymous said...
Very interesting Stuck in So Pa - I had no idea PA was limited to 25 mils. Who needs to vote on that to increase it?........
I don't know if the 25mil limit is state wide, but it was here in York County. The school board and/or the county board of supervisors can vote to increase millage up to 25 mils/$1000 per property.
After they reach the 25mil limit, they simply call for the assessors to do a county or district wide re-evaluation. The new assessment/millage combo must be within 10% of the old figure in the assessment calendar year.
For example, lets say that you are appraised at $100,000/25mils and their royal taxing majesties decide they want the cash equivalent of two more mills. They have you reassessed for $200,000 and drop the millage to 14mils in the assessment year. Then every year they up the millage on the $200,000 assessment any amount until they reach 25mil again and ask for another reassessment.
This has always worked to line their taxing and spending pockets because real estate has "always gone up" for so long that no one remembers when it has not! Now that it is flat lining and/or possibly going down, it could get very interesting! Our elected parasites in the state capital can't seem to find a way to cut property taxes (while giving themselves up to $60,000 pay and pension increases this year) but you can be damned sure they will react quickly when the school administrators association and teachers union start bitchin because they are not going to get their 25% "deserved" pay and benefit increase this year, and threaten to cut off their PAC’s re-election contribution checks!
Remember” It’s For The Kids”, ”After all, you want good education, DON”T YOU?” Still sad.
Wait a minute. I never went to public schools, my house is paid, and I have no kids. Why should I pay to send other peoples kids to school?
"Everyone should pay property taxes, not just those of us who saved and worked hard to buy a house."
Everybody does. Even as an apartment dweller, I get back a rebate check from the state of MN for paying them. The building owner pays them on my behalf.
But I still think that renters should get a break because of "economy of scale."
When you own a home, there might be 10 houses per acre but, where I live, there are 25 apartments on approximately 0.25 acres.
I agree with another poster that school taxes might be a thing of the past because, at today's prices, everyone wants a part of the school budget. I don't think it will stay public and, in fact, it'll become private as this generation of teachers retire.
Sprawl costs money and that cost is paid for through taxes... As an apartment dweller, I shouldn't have to pay for your lifestyle choice!
If you don't like taxes, sell your house! That's one of the reasons why there are taxes because, like copays, they make you think: "should I really own this or let someone else own it?"
Without taxes, someone could own the entire united states without an penalty...
I support the notion that high density housing is more environmental friendly, supports "economy of scale," etc... while, if you're a homeowner, these things aren't true!
AT 2.99 lb for tomatoes, i need the school children to tend the neo farm, just like in the days before they were dumbed down at school, by cost of living wage increased ,including the cost of taxes and government, teachers, who are part of the tax increase system. RAPE
they (we) paid taxes for public water systems, and had our private one, and land owner rights!, we paid public sewer system taxes, and had private septic systems and property rights,we had systems for self electric productions and paid for community systems, and road tars, for our benefit as a community, ect,and land rights,while building community, and the community taxed us away, so for that community, im all for the ever increasing tax and tax and tax until you go away
Riddle me this,
How many times can borkafatty have a thought and not post it?
Obviously never!
Taxes never go down.
Riddle me this,
How many times can borkafatty have a thought and not post it?
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Dork..now we do the "how many times can borka post thing" Punked
Property tax, termites, bad schools, lazy teachers, dropping house prices, and "shister" politicians! I'm glad I sold my over priced tract home and went to cash! If I don't like the place I'll take my yuppie ass down the road!
What was the American Revolution over any way, 3 tenths of a pence? George Washington must be rolling over in his grave!
american revolution was over money changers and rights to tax, and a demand to receive tax payments in other than the local cyrrency, which turned out to be lead bullets, as a retort
i get screwed, you gotta get screwed, thats the american way
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