On the counter, there's nothing fair about stealing someone's property either. If a person works for 40 years, pays off their mortgage, and has little money in old age, the idea of the government stealing their property due to failure to pay property taxes is extraordinarily vicious. I assume you'd back an exclusion for the primary residence (one home per person, or at least an income requirement).
It's based on the reality that people tend to buy houses based on the monthly payments they can afford, and property tax influences that reality. The old person living in a house may be paying the same amount of money in property tax:
It puts a general price pressure on decreasing housing prices. I would also put a much higher property tax rate on long term unoccupied property to increase rental supply to further decrease property values. California with it's relatively low property tax schemes favoring older people pays for it in overpriced property prices.
> I assume you'd back an exclusion for the primary residence (one home per person, or at least an income requirement).
No need for that. If the only taxes were on real estate, that would free up a vast amount of capital that the elderly are currently paying in taxes on their IRA withdrawals. Even if their current property taxes were tripled, they'd likely end up with a net gain (or at least no net loss) due to the eliminated income taxes.
