Saagar RIPS Boomer Anti-Property Tax Propaganda

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Saagar RIPS Boomer Anti-Property Tax Propaganda

Key Points

Growing effort on the right to abolish property taxes, supported by politicians like Marjorie Taylor Greene and Ron DeSantis
Property tax abolition would be a massive giveaway to elderly homeowners who already receive significant exemptions
Seniors get substantial property tax breaks: Florida offers additional $50,000 exemption for 65+, Texas freezes school taxes at 65
Elderly argue they shouldn't pay school taxes since their children are grown, similar to private school voucher arguments
This creates unfair burden shifting to younger generations who must pay for seniors' Social Security and Medicare
Replacing property taxes with sales taxes would be massively regressive, hurting lower-income people disproportionately
Home buyers over 70 currently outnumber those under 35, contributing to housing affordability crisis
Average senior retiring at 65 paid $600,000 into system but receives $1.2 million in benefits over lifetime
Seniors get tax-free Social Security (88% pay no tax due to standard deduction), free healthcare, and capital gains exemptions
Property tax elimination would reduce incentive for elderly to sell large homes, keeping housing stock from younger buyers
California's Proposition 13 allows longtime homeowners to pay artificially low property taxes compared to new buyers
Current system creates socialism for 65+ while providing zero federal support for ages 0-5
One percent of entire federal budget goes to dialysis for elderly with kidney disease
Homeowners already receive significant advantages including mortgage interest deductions and tax breaks
Property taxes fund essential city services like police, fire, and ambulances that elderly use heavily
Estate tax only affects those worth over $30 million ($15 million per person exemption)
Step-up basis in taxation contributes to solidifying class structure and reducing upward mobility
Older generations benefited from more affordable housing, healthcare, and education during New Deal era

Full Transcript

Language: en
Okay, now here's a little pet issue of
mine, which I said I wish I had the time
to write this up into a monologue, but
I'm going to do my best. There is a
growing effort on the right to quote
abolish property taxes. I want to say at
the top, I sympathize. Everybody hates
property taxes. Here in the state of
Virginia, actually, where I live, they
even tax your car. You know, you you
every year you have to pay your annual
car tax. And it's one of the most
unpopular things that people ever have
to deal with. But I want to really dig
into this and tell people why it is
actually a massive giveaway to the old
and if anything it needs to be reversed.
So let's put this up there on the screen
from Marjorie Taylor Green. She says
recently, quote, "Hi, we need to
completely abolish property tax. It
forces us to quote pay rent to the
government on property that we own, but
if we don't pay property tax, the
property that we own gets taken away.
That should never happen in a free
country." She says secondly, health
insurance is a giant scam. I agree, but
let's stick with the property tax thing
because this is actually becoming
policy. Let's put the next one, please,
on the screen. Ronda Santis is now
proposing no property taxes in the state
of Florida. And actually, it's Florida,
Ohio, and many other Republican states
that want to eliminate property tax. V
Ramoswami has apparently said something
similar. The more I looked into this,
again, emotionally, I actually do
understand everybody hates property tax.
It's one of the mo things that included
in your mortgage. even if you finally
pay off your house, you have to continue
to do it. The more I actually started to
look into it, not only in what it funds,
uh, but the way that seniors are the
ones who are the most bene or the most
benefit not only of the property tax
themselves, which is paid for services,
but get exemptions. I was like, wait,
no, this is a massive giveaway to the
old and it's an inversion of how policy
should be. So, let me put this up on the
screen and then we can talk. is I did a
lot of this research. This was Chhat GPT
thankfully and I was like, "Huh, how
much property tax exemption already
exists for old people." So, in Florida,
you get this thing called the homestead
deduction. That's for everybody. It's
for your primary residence, which is off
of your assessed value. But seniors who
are 65 plus and lower income, by the
way, that low income is a very different
definition than what I would think of
low income, you get an additional
$50,000 exemption. In Texas, you get
something called the regular school tax
exemption. And then for seniors, you get
an extra $10,000 off of school district
taxes, plus school taxes are frozen at
the age of 65. The theory basically for
property tax and the anti-property tax
movement for a lot of old people is,
hey, we're older, our kids are grown, so
why should we have to pay for schools? I
think this is preposterous because I
could get I have to I'm forced to pay
social security and Medicare like
everybody else with FICA. I could get
hit by a bus on the day I turn 64 and
364 days and get no social security.
That doesn't mean that I shouldn't have
to pay it for my entire life. Right? So
their theory is that we have to pay for
their retirement, which by the way is
pegged to inflation, but they get
property tax, school tax frozen, and now
they want to eliminate it entirely,
which are city services, which again,
who's calling 911 for an ambulance all
the time? It's old people. Okay? And
these people want to opt out of that and
shift the tax burden to the consumption
of sales tax, which would actually be a
massive giveaway to them. Not even
worse, let me just continue with the
rant, is it would mean that their
primary residence, they have no
incentive to sell, which actually locks
them even more so into housing stock,
giant McMansions, which for two people,
which in my opinion rightfully should go
to people with younger houses. Now, I'm
not saying they should be forced to
sell, but to say that, well, maybe I
have, but it's like
I'm not saying there should be time to
move on, grandma. I'm not saying they
should be forced to sell. Wink wink. But
uh the idea that you should be that the
government should provide you massive
amounts of services, free retirement,
free health care under Medicare, but you
don't have to pay for my kids school
taxes. Get out of here. And now you
actually want to shift the local burden
to more so to the consumers rather than
the elderly people who again get
inflationpedged free money from the
government. And now under the big
beautiful bill, you get a taxfree income
for 88%. I just think it's one of those
where it's a total abdication by the
boomer generation. They're like, "Oh,
we're done with the schools, so we don't
have to pay for them." Well, you know
what? If I'm done with you, why do I
have to pay for your healthcare? You
know, 1% of all federal spending is on
boomer diialysis. I'm not joking. 1% of
the entire federal budget is on dialysis
for obese boomers with kidney disease.
It's one of those where and and listen,
I'm pro Medicare. If anything, you know,
we should go after the health care
companies that jack up that spending.
I'm not saying we should take it away
from you, but you can't abdicate your
responsibility to the younger
generation. And that's what all of this
is. It's like we literally have a
socialist system right now for boomers.
I I I I the more I looking into this
property tax thing, I did not realize
it's a massive giveaway to the elderly.
And it shifts the entire tax burden on
people who are younger, can't afford the
homes, being frozen out of the housing
stock, and are are making it so that
they have to have sole responsibility
for their lives and for the city
services of them on top of paying for
the quasi socialist system of retirement
that we have for everybody 65 plus.
I mean, the school thing is just like,
do you live in a society?
Thank you. I know. It's crazy.
I mean, it'd be the same thing if I was
like, well, my neighborhood is safe, so
I don't want to pay for the cops. I mean
it's just like okay we live in a societ
we all live here together there are
certain things that are valuable to us
for example the education of the
children right for example like you know
we could do a lot better about everybody
being able to have healthcare etc um you
know I think you have to ask okay there
are certain set of services that people
expect and need the state to provide so
there's going to have to be revenue
raised somewhere so if it's not property
taxes what is it likely to be and that's
where you
which is what massively regressive
massively regressive. So even taking
like the age part out of this our
society increasingly the structure of
our society in terms of halves and have
nots and there is a deep generational
component to this that is for sure is
between those who own their homes and
those who rent. And if you own a home
you're much more likely to you know have
uh sort of stable life. You're much more
likely to have some sort of wealth that
you've accumulated. you know, you're
building value over all these years, you
already get big tax breaks from the
federal government in terms of mortgage
interest deduction. You know, it's a
major dividing line
after you sell.
That's exactly right. So, there you you
get significant breaks. There's
significant built-in advantages to being
a homeowner already in our system. So,
what you're talking about is another tax
break for homeowners who are much more
likely to be, you know, affluent than
people who are renters. So, um, you
know, if you were going to instead fund
things with a, um, actually progressive
income tax code, okay, then we could
talk. You know, then I'd be open to it.
But that's not the direction that
they're pushing in. They're pushing,
okay, we're going to do sales tax and
sales, why is sales tax deeply
regressive? It's because the poorer you
are, the more of your income you're
spending on consumption because you're,
you know, it's your back's against the
wall, your paycheck to paycheck. So,
basically everything that comes in is
going out in expenditures. So, as a
percent of your income, you're going to
be taxed much much more. So, yeah, it's
and the thing is it's not just a red
state. And I, by the way, you wouldn't
believe the boomer rage I've gotten uh
for for talking about this. But the more
I look into it, the amount of breaks
these people get is unbelievable. I
talked to a stateet legislator who got
mad at me. He's from New Hampshire. He's
like, "What are you talking about,
idiot? Nobody freezes property taxes for
uh people in New Hampshire." took a
simple Google search for to find out
that one 13 of the largest cities in the
state of New Hampshire, 203 localities,
all provide something called an elderly
exemption for property tax. The theory
behind it is that these people are on
fixed income and that they don't use the
schools, so therefore they deserve the
break. Again, that is the same argument
that the school voucher people make
about their property taxes or private
schoolers who are like, "Oh, but I send
my kid to private school. Why should I
have to pay into the system?" or oh well
I don't use that much trash why should I
have it's like this you know it's almost
like a libertarian mindset but it's only
libertarian and opt the only opt out it
exists is for the elderly now let's
compare US socialism for 65 plus to 0 to
5 that's where my baby is right now what
is she getting from the federal
government zero nothing I get a measly
tax deduction what else prek when they
turn like four or something like that in
between. Good luck. Hope you make decent
money. Uh while
if you're and if you're Zoran and you
propose free childare, people are going
to say you're a communist.
And yeah, while they again get free
healthcare, they get completely free
healthare. Now a sane society would say
that if you're have to choose between
them, in my opinion, 0 to 5 is way more
important especially than 65 plus in a
country where people live until 83 years
old. So now I'm not saying throw
everybody out on their street, but for
all of those folks, if you guys are
going to get your free healthcare, don't
be coming around saying, "I don't have
to pay any property tax because I've
already paid it and I don't use the
schools." Again, we all have to pay for
your retirement. And if you really want
to get technical, on an accounting
basis, the average senior who retires at
age 65 in the year 2020 paid 600,000
into the system. You get 1.2 million in
benefits over the course of your life.
double literally what you ever paid into
the system. So the idea that you know
you've paid for everything you get, no
it's fa it's false. Now I'm not saying
we should bankrupt you or take a lot of
the stuff away. I'm in favor of reducing
the massive amount of costs in the
health care system. But the current way
that it's structured is everything is
about tax breaks for the people who are
already homeowners which
disproportionately are the elderly.
Let's put E4 here up on the screen
because this is very important. If you
look at the current data, home buyers
over the age of 70 currently outnumber
those under 35. And in particular, it's
for larger houses and or starter homes.
So the way that the tax system is now
currently the way that the current tax
system is is that boomers are getting
free social security. Literally free.
88% of you will not pay any tax on your
social security because of the new
standard deduction which is only for
people who are over the age of 66 or
whatever by the one big beautiful bill.
You get free money from the government,
taxfree money basically from the
government. You get free healthcare,
capital gains, no tax on your residence
which massively has boomed. You can roll
that into a new house and a lot of them
are choosing to live lives of relative
luxury from how they grew up. Now I
don't bemoan or begrudge anybody for
being able to do that. I do think there
should be a reverse of the system to
incentivize first-time home buyers over
people who are already elderly. So, if I
want to see tax breaks, I want to see
them for the people who are under 30,
not for the people who are o over 70.
But then you can't be buying your
McMansion, which in my opinion again
should be probably going to somebody
over under the age of 35, and then not
pay any property tax for it because that
means you're never going to sell it. The
carrying cost is way too simple for you.
It's it's like the deal of the century
that we're just handing over to all
these folks. And here's the thing, you
and I know it's gonna pass in Florida.
It's full of old people. Their entire
state is subsidized by the federal
government because we pay for their
residents income and we pay for their
healthcare. So now you know what what
they're going to do. We
also pay for like their homeowners.
Yeah. Right. and we ensure all of their
property which by rights nobody should
even live in because it's near the ocean
and is constantly getting destroyed.
I mean I think there's an overlap
between so I I I think the proper way to
look at you know the taxation system
rather than a generational war zero sum
between what the elderly could get
versus what young people could get is I
mean the big problem is that the wealthy
pay very very little in taxes. there's
not a progressive income tax system in
the way that there should be. And I'm
talking nationally right now, but
certainly in states like Florida that
don't even have an income tax. Um, and
so, you know, what you end up with is
because you had older generations who
were able to acquire wealth at a time
period, you know, more during the like
New Deal era when housing was much more
wildly more affordable, healthcare was
wildly more affordable, education was
wildly more affordable, college
education in c certain places was free
at the time. Um, so you have a wealth
disparity between generations, but you,
you know, the the big war is the class
war versus the generational war. There's
overlap there. But, you know, to me,
that's the frame to to look at these
I disagree and politically, but no
politician will ever talk the way I'm
talking. Why? Because old people are the
only ones who vote. But the thing is is
that it is important still to say that
the middle class elderly is way better
off than the middle class young person.
It's just a lot of that is home
ownership and it's home ownership. The
tax breaks are unbelievable. Or like in
California with Prop 13, the biggest
load of I have ever seen that
these people who buy a house in 1976
explodes in value from 100,000 to 2.5
million living in Santa Monica or
whatever in Los Angeles are are paying
massively low property tax rate compared
to somebody who has to purchase the home
let's say in 2015. I'm sorry. It's not
right. And they're like, "Oh, but it's
not fair because I'm priced out because
of the property tax you get." Listen, if
you were, this is where my personal
responsibility spiel. If you saved your
money and you put it in the 401k like
you should have, then you should have no
problem being able to pay your property
tax. But their argument is that again,
their free inflation adjusted income
should be able to sustain a like mansion
in Santa Monica. Preposterous. the
property tax should be pegged to the
accurate market value and if you have to
sell so be it. You should have worked
harder and should have saved more money.
And that's it's just like infuriating
that they continue to try and stop
paying for school taxes, cap their own
property taxes and make it so that they
can live in housing stock which again by
any fair market should and and fair
society should be occupied by people who
are younger who literally cannot get
into them. I mean, it's basically I I
think people should just think of it as
a tax cut for the rich effectively. I
mean, that's disproportionately who's
going to benefit from it. And so, if you
know, my metric is just is it a
regressive or progressive tax? And if
you are getting rid of property tax and
shifting that burden over to an income
tax, a consumption t I mean not an
income tax rather to a sales tax, a
consumption tax, you are giving a tax
cut to the rich and you are funding it
with a working class.
Tax hike. It's true. that's what you're
doing is correct.
Look at look at it through who benefits
and who's going to bear the cost. I
think it becomes pretty clear this is a
bad deal for average people.
I had a senior reply and I was like,
"What about death taxes? You wouldn't
even know anything about that." And it's
like, "Bro, unless you're worth $34
million when you die, you're not paying
an estate tax." It's like, so actually
just tell me you're filthy rich. I mean,
we barely even have a death. That's what
I'm saying. Death tax.
The exemption is 15 million per person.
So, you're worth more than $30 million.
You think you shouldn't have to pay any
It's one of the most important reasons
that we've had increasing like a
solidifying class structure um and less
and less upward mobility is the lack of
an estate tax.
Well, it's not just it's actually step
up basis in my opinion. That's the is
the crime of the century. All right, I
will I'll I'll end it there. I know the
boomers will be mad, but I'm sorry. It's
like you said, we live in a society. You
have to pay for us because we pay for
you. Literally, that's what the money is
for from the government.
And like, did you go to school at one
point in your life? Did people pay taxes
so that you could go to school?
As I'm sitting here paying for your
dialysis. It's infuriating. I'm sorry.
All right, let's get to your monologue.
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