Back on August 12, the Tribune’s Chris Morris heeded the squeaky realtor’s wheel and considered the outer limits of the “American dream” (unlimited-horizon-free, New Albany-style):
Rental property owners in Clark, Floyd counties say enough is enough.
The idea sounds like a winner. You buy property, fix it up, find someone to rent it, and then sit back and collect the monthly check.
However, it’s not quite that simple, according to local Realtor Pat Harrison. In fact, she said what used to be the American dream of owning property has turned into a nightmare for many. The reason, she said, is property owners are being taxed to death.
“This state is not giving any kind of tax break on commercial and investment property. It’s pitiful,” Harrison said.
Chris didn't intend to be insightful, but his line, "sit back and collect the monthly check," is a classic.
Why do we get the sneaking suspicion that the next grinding trench warfare phase of trying to bring New Albany’s enduring “slumlord protection program” into line with the dictates of the 21st century will inevitably revolve around fanatical opposition (vigilance with Bics in hand, just itching to flick) to absolutely necessary rental inspection reform, on the spurious grounds that extreme poverty caused by Harrison’s “pitiful” absence of tax breaks should absolve owners of adhering to community standards?
We can hear the tune already, and it is discordant -- and dysfunctional -- as ever.
Three comments on this piece:
ReplyDeleteOne – the single biggest reason, as I see it, for rental property owners to be negatively impacted, is their own stupidity. The combined effect of so many slumlords is a deteriorating housing stock and therefore lowering market value. A funny thing happens when people make appropriate and timely investments in their properties – they become MORE VALUABLE. Which is not to say Indiana couldn’t have a fairer property tax system, but when you hear local rental property owners bitching about their relatively low tax burden(compared to other places I’ve lived) it sounds like more hot air blowing NA syndrome in our face.
Two – whether people can admit it out loud or not, we have a serious “white trash” problem here. Who cares whether the slumlords or their white trash tenants came first…how do we get rid of them? Downtown, where many people are working and investing in rehabilitation, many more are working just as hard at social devolution. While I’m repairing the slumlord paint job in my home, the owner of the crack-house next door is busy degrading his property so he can keep that rental money coming in that pays for his retirement in Florida. Here we see what happens when there are no enforceable community standards. The people who make investments and support the tax base get screwed by their local government who don’t do their jobs and uphold standards.
Three – Not to bring up a sore subject, but – the tax abatement scam of the last 30 years has shifted the tax base away from corporations and onto individual property owners. Corporations have done better in the last 30 years than at any time in history and wealth has been subsequently redistributed to a few. Obviously we need to change that.
With so many of the rentals being in such shanty...No I take that back I do not want to insult the Shanty towns in the "third world"...
ReplyDeleteWith so many rentals being in such GREGORIOUS condition, how in the heck can the taxes be so high on them as to become a burden?
Of course, on the same note, if you are charging 400 or 500 $$ per month in rent for a broken down, rotting house, and never sink a penny into capital improvements, again, how can the taxes on a slum be a burden?
They entered a business venture, every single business venture involves taxes or fees of some sort....fix up the properties, bring them up to code, and you could charge enough rent to make up for the increased taxes....
But as mentioned, this was nothing more than the opening volley from the oposition of rental inspection programs should the politicians of the spring remember their promises in the fall...
I told both Jeff and Roger on the evening of this past Primary that I appreciated their efforts for democracy. This isn't to be accepted as a blank endorsement for the myriad opinions and strategies to achieve this blurred progress keeps surfacing with a clamor.
ReplyDeleteI saw both of these gentlemen again on Saturday at that festival that wasn't. I think it telling that Jeff has assured us that he keeps seeing more of "us" and that the present conditions didn't have the vision to open the restrooms at the ampitheatre, much less have actual concessions.
If one were snarky, couldn't an homage to the Crescent City be construed by the either niggardly or oblivious attempts at cultural promotion?
The lyricism about the critical mass of the Progressive Class is a pleasure to read but NA proper remains inert, stubborn to accept the insights of those that speak with intonation and nuance.
There are others that suspect that Roger, Randy and the Culinary aramada of Downtown have only contributed to this crusade for pecuniary inticement. It is simply an observation.
Is anyone else going to see Obama in Lexington on Sunday?
Jacque Hunter, who owns apartments in the area, said many in the group would like to see an increase in the sales tax and do away with property taxes altogether.
ReplyDelete“With a lot of people who own property, their one concern is that there are so many people who rent who don’t contribute to property taxes,” he said. “With an increase in sales tax, they would get everybody. Everyone would have to pay their fair share.”
Above is from the Tribune article mentioned and linked in the post.
I have no idea what kind of apartments Mr. Hunter owns but he is being very disingenuous with his argument.
Do not Mr. Hunter and other landlords figure ALL of their costs of owning rental property into the formula for setting rental rates? Renters are paying property taxes through their rent. If he is actually this stupid, then I can guess what kind of rental property he has.