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Landlords should have to pay income tax on their rental properties regardless of whether they're rented out or not. (gothamist.com)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

414 comments fedilink hide all child comments

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.crimedad.work/post/12162

Why? Because apparently they need some more incentive to keep units occupied. Also, even though a property might be vacant, there's still imputed rental income there. Its owner is just receiving it in the form of enjoying the unit for himself instead of receiving an actual rent check from a tenant. That imputed rent ought to be taxed like any other income.

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[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 year ago (4 children)

So a less efficient and more complicated land tax? Is there any benefit to this compared to just taxing based on the value?

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[–] Zink 15 points 1 year ago (7 children)

Many landlords don’t even pay taxes on the money they DO make.

They can depreciate a property to offset their income, even though the property is going up in value. The catch is that they have to pay taxes on more of the money they get from selling the property. But if they don’t sell, potentially no taxes for decades. And if they leave it to their kids in their will, no taxes there either and the kid’s cost basis in the property is the market value at the time they received it. So they can start the depreciation all over again.

This is how my non-expert self understands it anyway. It’s part of what draws some people into real estate.

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago (2 children)

That's what property tax is for.

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago (3 children)

What are the unintended consequences of this proposal? It is amazing how many people replying to this topic have proposed something without considering what effect it will have. Sure there is a problem, but most solutions have serious negative downsides.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (6 children)

I don't think people care about the downsides for landlords anymore. Real or imagined, perceived greed is what people blame for high rent costs. They're ready to make greedy landlords suffer as they have and I can't say I blame them one bit.

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago (1 children)

In Denmark most apartments have “residence requirement” - if you own a unit and keep it empty the city will fill it with someone waiting for public housing.

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The maoist uprising against the landlords was the largest and most comprehensive proletarian revolution in history, and led to almost totally-equal redistribution of land among the peasantry.