Obama should have let the bankers twist in the wind when the citizenry was out for blood in 2008. They repaid him by channeling money to Republicans. Put them all in jail.
Texas has an interesting solution to this. Homeowners over 65 can elect to defer the payment of their property taxes indefinitely, although the taxes eventually get paid when the house changes owners.
I guess that doesn't matter to you if you're dead.
What happens if the deferred taxes exceed the cost of the house?
I'm not sure what happens in the case where the accrued taxes exceed the value of the house, though.
Basically they put a tax lien on the property, they just don't collect on it while the original homeowner is occupying the property.
I'm not a lawyer, but my basic understanding of this is that if it exceeds the value of the property, the estate can just let the city/county seize the house. Otherwise, they'd need to pay the deferred taxes in order to transfer the title to the heirs.
Obviously this is not legal advice.
I'm uncomfortable with this phrasing. Are you implying that the bailouts were some kind of quid pro quo?
In general, as costs go up, the more there is incentive to try to cater to wealthier customers.
In the interest of being intellectually honest though, that's probably not the full story. It's worth pointing out that Chicago's population peaked in the 50's and that property taxes were probably lower back then.
Also worth pointing out that there's a lot of directions for sprawl to help meet housing demand. I actually grew up in Indiana and my dad worked in Chicago. We lived in Indiana because the property tax was significantly lower even though housing prices were comparable.