So he bought a house for 6k 50 years go and now has to pay 2k in property taxes each year. If he was renting that wouldn't cover two months.

Does he also complain that the sales tax on candy bar is more than he used to pay for a candy bar when he first bought his house?

I don’t understand inflation, so as an old landowner I think I shouldn’t have to pay taxes.

And this is why in most civilized countries, progressive income taxes make up the majority of the government budget. Basing taxes on non income/investment related metrics screws over the poor + lower middle class. It's a transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich.

While I do think there should be some relief for some people as far as property taxes are concerned... living in a town or city gives a person access to many local government subsided services. Firefighters, and ambulances are some simple ones that everyone uses. Roads as well. And the cost of that does increase over time. Basing a person's contributions to paying for that based on the value of thier property is just easier for local governments, and more stable. But it doesn't really corelate with the use of those services. Nor with income or ability to pay.
Life necessities really shouldn't be taxed at most levels. Food, shelter, water, heat, medical care. Most already aren't. But housing still is. Investment properties should be taxed of course, but an average primary residence really shouldn't be.

Comparing property taxes now in 2025 dollars to unadjusted original cost in 1950 dollars is nonsensical. The two numbers bear no relation nor should they.

The average social security check is $1,978 a month or $23,736 per annum. Half of that is $11,868. Lets suppose he lives in CA where the annual rate for owner occupied is 0.74%. His house would be worth approx 1.6 million dollars. To to be clear he is whining about paying the appropriate and legal tax on his fully owned 1.6M cash hoard. This is a great problem to have.

If its that burdensome he can cash out and even with rent payments for the rest of his life live great even if he has no other savings of any sort.

Looks like about $5800 a month gradually increasing with inflation for at least 25 years.

If he has another $400,000 which seems super likely since I don't think he's actually living in his 1.6M house on $12,000 a year it could be more than 7500 a month.

If we add a little realism and only include another 15 years he could probably actually withdraw about 11,000 a month.

https://www.kiplinger.com/retirement/social-security/average-monthly-social-security-check https://www.tax-rates.org/taxtables/property-tax-by-state

They dangle the carrot of "home ownership" as if anyone ever owns a home that can be taken away for not paying taxes.

Property tax is the big thing that forces people to engage with capitalism against their will.

Without property tax, you could live off-grid for eternity. But with property tax, you always have to earn money, and the people that control that money therefore control you.

For many states property taxes are the majority of funding for public schools. If that's the case for the pictured person, the sign could also read:

"I got my public education for free from age 5-18 funded from others paying property taxes including learning how to read and write to make this sign you're reading. Now that I've received that free public education and benefited from it, I'm not interested in paying for any kids to be educated using my dollars. F you, I got mine."

This isn't a discussion on property tax, it's more about social security. There is no reason we cannot scale taxes/fines to income. Many countries pull this off...

My dad literally went to the city and argued against them raising the book value of his home, which would cause him to have to pay more in property tax.

He won too.

That loon.

I would be more okay with property tax, IF once you reached a certain age (or disabled), you were not required to pay property tax.

Surely this man would be in favor of a greater and graduated state income tax then, right?

...right?

Remember - america is not a country, it's a business.
If you can't make it - noone gonna do shit

Interesting. In Texas once you hit 65 they freeze your property taxes and no longer increase it. My parents are only paying $1,800/year on a $250K house. Meanwhile I’m paying $14,000/yr on a $500K house.

There are a lot of people suffering right now to the extent that his plight seems so frivolous.

I'll bet hes a republican voting for deficit which results in raised taxes on people like himself and cuts for people far richer than him.

Property taxes go towards education. More right-wing bullshit attacking schools.

So property tax I am ok with, in theory. The people with property in a city should pay for services like fire, schools, police, road maintenance..... What gets me is when the city wants more and more for stupid shit like iPads for all students.... Every 3 years due to forced upgrades or just old style deprecation over 3 years.

The amount my taxes go up each year is more than any raise I get. Then add on insurance which has gone insane. I paid off my house to avoid a 20k female flood insurance bill because a 1 foot piece of concrete touched a high risk flood zone. A technicality because if I took down a screen patio, then I wouldn't have to pay.

It's insane how expensive owning a house has become

Is this guy paid by some rich guys wanting to abolish property taxes?

To be fair this dude could have gotten his house 45 years ago for 50K. So adjusting for inflation and overall development of his area, it could make sense. Comparing current payments to cost of money 40 years ago is comparing apples to oranges.

Now all that being said....there is a serious issue with cost and availability of housing, and I am not dismissing that. I'm just saying context is needed for this ragebait post.

Here the increases are capped at 3% per year if you live in the house. I lived in a shitty house we bought for 35k in the 1990s crash, and property taxes when we sold it in the breakup 20 years later were still under 1k a year, though insurance was crazy high. With husband we had to buy a much more expensive house, there are no shitty ones for sale anymore, all are snatched by corps to flip and rent. So now it's high but in 20 years maybe it will seem low again. Especially if the market crashes and it's re-assessed more reasonably.

It's just inflation, I do think someone owning a home costs the city in roads, trash, transit, other services, Is not crazy to tax on property ownership.

I see both arguments for this as valid. I get that you wanna stay and live your entire life in the place you owned forever. The reality is taxes are needed and will increase forever, which are important to keeping your state functioning (as long as the people in charge are doing a good job and actually using the funds wisely). I wonder what state they are from because I know property tax can be wildly different depending upon that. I'm sure they don't want to, but there are like 6 states that currently offer no property tax to seniors over 65 and 10 that offer exemptions based on income and age. At the same time it is good to see them complain because maybe they can try to sway the state to also offer the no property tax benefit to seniors as well. Still if he is hurting that much, then it's probably easier to sell the place and move to another place that will allow him to be better off with less worrying. It's a valid option even if he doesn't agree with it.

Here in the United States, this issue and this sign are advocating for what? This man is where? At his county commissioner meeting? This sign implies we want the federal government in our local tax policy? I mean really? GTFO with this garbage. Stay the F out of my busniess, if I don't like property tax, that comes with my local vote, and has nothing to do with the federal government. I could bet someone paid this tool to stand with this sign because someone who doesn't understand decentralized local government power wants to make a point about something that has nothing to do with social security.

California disagrees: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1978_California_Proposition_13

Property tax is assessed when there's a sale, and otherwise changes very slowly. It's a controversial measure.