Have some lunatic fringe elements taken over the humanities?

[Gandalf]

There are loads. Americans are generally not super rich like the US wannabe Kirk. No palaces but solid homes. The key is avoiding major ciy center areas. Not hard to do.

https://www.zillow.com/blog/homes-on...200000-163686/

Haha yeah if you wanna live in Baltimore of course their is less then EVEN 200 G's. You'll still paying on Baltimore slum about $600/Mon properties tax

Still uncool. Lyle what is the reality of US property taxes? Many earn quite low incomes so the notion of paying a fifth of your wages for having a home sounds harsh to say the least.

In the area where my sister lives, a suburb of Chicago, annual property tax bills of more than $30,000 are commonplace.

How much are those properties? Are they located in the nicer parts of town? I am guessing they are not cheap properties. The average US income is not much above the amount you are stating. A progressive system is a better one, but still what is that really paying for?

If someone has a very large income then I am in favor of a progressive form of taxation on that income. I just don't like the idea of paying a tax just because you live in a house and frankly I think councils are often sub par and provide poor service. I was walking on ice for days in the UK which seldom happens here despite having far more snow and apparently the street had rats in the summer because rubbish collection had been reduced. If you are not going to provide services, then reduce the fee.

My issue with council tax in the UK too is that it is regressive and so the rich pay very little comparatively yet the poor can end up paying a fair bit. If your income is say 14,000 pounds a year then 1,500 pounds to live in a rented home is a fairly steep amount. To a person earning 140,000 pounds a year 2,300 pounds really is peanuts. Government in the UK spends billions subsidizing rents too which is again an absurd thing. Government has failed people in many ways. Council taxes themselves are a relatively new tax. My other issue is of course VAT which affects the poor more comparatively speaking unless the rich person has a vulgar caviar addiction.