4 Reasons why poverty is so widespread in the world's wealthiest nation:
Property Tax
With rent being the biggest expense most Americans have to bear, property tax on the owner is passed to the renter. Eliminating property tax on the condition that the owner passes the savings to the renter could reduce rent by 10% to 30%. This means more money to put towards buying a house and breaking the cycle.
Once you finally buy a house, you are still forced to pay rent to the government, and missing a single payment could result in an eviction from your own property.
Income Tax
80% of the country is in debt by an average of $140k per household. Americans are working hard to try to pay off their debt. When considering all the taxes and programs that most employees are forced to pay for, workers are only receiving half of what their employers are paying, making it harder to pay off their debt.
Anyone earning less than $60,000 per year should be exempt from all of the payroll taxes, and rent and mortgage payments should be completely tax deductible. This will help many Americans to get out of debt, become home owners, and break the rent cycle.
Extended Loan Terms
The FHA is credited with making it easier for Americans to buy homes, but nearly 100 years later, it has only made it easier for Americans to get into debt, while inflating the housing market.
The average homeowner buys their home at the age of 32 with a 30 year loan. Most Americans won’t pay off their mortgages until they retire. Usually by that time, Social Security won’t even cover their property tax.
But what's important to note is that before loans were 30 years, they were only 5 or 10 years. The trick was convincing Americans they would have lower monthly payments, but didn't notice they were taking on a lifetime of debt and paying about 4 times more in interest to the banks.
We can compare this to the Mexican mortgage system, which is nearly identical to what the US had before the FHA. Mexico has 80% home ownership with very few borrowing money to buy homes. Mexico also has 1/4 the homeless population, and very few Mexicans have any debt at all.
Inheritance Taxes
Many people advocate inheritance taxes as a way to tax the wealthy. When implemented, these taxes steal from everyone equally, even the working class who just want to pass a home to their children. Often, recipients of an inheritance are forced to sell their families property just to pay the taxes. This turns homeowners back into renters. Inheritances taxes are regressive against society's progress. Millions of families who have historically owned property, no longer have what their ancestors built.
If we allow people to pass their wealth from generation to generation, more people would have homes to live rent-free. More people would have their own personal safety net, and would not be competing for low wage jobs. As we have seen post-covid, when people are not competing for jobs, even minimum wage employers offer higher wages, signing bonuses and other perks.
News Flash:
“The other day I received a text message asking for my support to change the tax rules to update property valuation in California every year. They told me that Disney was shortchanging the school system by $20 million per year. But when I asked if changing this rule would also mean that the property I owned for 50 years would also be reevaluated, sending my bill to over $1,000 per month, they refused to answer. I am retired and living on Social Security. Passing this bill would force me to sell my house, where I’d also be forced to pay a big capital gains tax. I’d be back to renting with no income.” - CB
Stop Paying Rent.
Start Owning.
Our mission is to increase ownership, lower rent and the cost of living, and reduce consumer debt.
Home ownership and savings are two of the most important pillars of financial stability. The next financial disaster is always right around the corner. It might be a national recession, global pandemic, or something personal like getting disabled in an accident, or having to take care of a sick family member. Savings and home ownership will allow you to survive without fear when your income goes away. Without worrying about rent or paying debts, you are much more capable of supporting yourself and your family, even without a source of income. This is something that is available to every American.
Rent to Own
Most renters throw away a majority of their income on rent, and earn no equity. Rent to own is a way to put part of your rent towards equity in the home you are renting. If more renters demanded this, we would see more offerings here. Every month you’ll have something to show for making that rent check. Collectives could be used to preserve equity, even when moving from property to property.
Taking back control of your life, begins with your home. Let’s make America Rent-Free!
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X% of texans are in debt with an average of $x per household.
All the taxes on their income and expenses help keep them in debt.
With the right policies, texans can get out of debt and stop burning through their income and savings on rent.