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Comment by Clubber | Hacker News Reader

>monopoly access to land

Do you mean "ownership?"

>The amount of free money yielded in real estate appreciation and rents in California is staggering. It could easily fill any state budget hole if the political will was there to take it from the people who did not earn it and give it to the people who did.

People didn't earn the property they own? I hesitate to ask you the question, but if things are so expensive, and you don't currently own property, why live there in the first place?

I'm all for decreasing the wealth gap and the wage gap, but what you seem to be asking for is free shit.

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If you bought property in the 1980s that cost you $50k and sold it today for $900k what exactly did you do to earn that $850k? Are you actually saying that it is not free money?

That's the effect that untaxing land (e.g. prop 13) has on property values. That's the money that would be going toward unfunded pension liabilities were the land not untaxed.

Paid for it, maintained it for 38 years, paid taxes on it for 38 years, paid interest on it for 30 years, paid insurance on it for 38 years, paid a realtor to sell it, made sure no junkies squatted it for 38 years, took the risk of the government force buying it for pennies on the dollar, took the risk of an earthquake destroying it, took the risk of other events completely devaluing it, didn't cash out for 38 years, etc.

Also took the risk of it decreasing in value relative to the dollar in 38 years.

I mean if it's free money, why don't you go buy up a $900K property and get some free money in 38 years? There is a little more to it, and of course, you realize, that it might not have increased in value over 38 years like it did the last 38 years.

Of course luck has a lot to do with it. I've lived in my house for about 15 years or so (not in CA). It's nearly doubled in value, but the interest payments alone over time cost about as much as the property, so it's a break even, then add inflation and I've probably lost some. I live in my house though, and I'm eagerly awaiting the day when I can live here without any more mortgage payments.

Indeed, if you invested 50k at 5% interest at 38 years ago, it would be 319k now. And that is the baseline if you spent zero on taxes and maintenance.

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