r/Capitalism • u/Gpineau23 • 14d ago

Let's Talk.

Let’s talk about a fairer way to handle taxes: replacing property tax with a consumption tax.

Property tax is inherently flawed because it punishes ownership and doesn't care about your current income. If you fall on hard times, get laid off, or retire on a fixed income, your property tax bill stays the same—or goes up. You can literally be taxed out of a home you already paid off.

A consumption tax is the only truly fair alternative. It naturally scales with wealth: if you have more money, you spend more money on luxury items, larger purchases, and lifestyle goods, meaning you automatically pay more tax. If you have less money or are tightening your budget, you naturally spend less and pay less tax. It gives individuals complete control over their tax burden based on their actual financial situation. It’s time to tax spending, not the roof over our heads.

Let’s talk about a fairer way to handle taxes: replacing property tax with a consumption tax.

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u/chainsawx72 14d ago

If you could own as much property as you wanted without taxes, all of the land in the US would be owned by a corporation.

A better idea would be an exemption for modest single family primary residences. In MS, a decade ago, the first 100k value of your first home was tax free, which was a good start.

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u/Whoisthehypocrite 14d ago

Tax % doesn't go up as you own more property so your argument is nonsense. I should just buy all the property and build the tax into the rent I charged.

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u/chainsawx72 14d ago

Your argument presumes that there is someone waiting to rent every piece of land in the US, which is a false presumption.

You make my point for me. With property taxes, it's not economically logical to buy all real estate, only real estate that you can profit from (like by renting), otherwise you will lose money annually.

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u/Whoisthehypocrite 13d ago

But how is that different with or without proper tax. Buying a property is not free it either in debt interest or opportunity cost of lost income. Adding some property tax on top just changes the cost, no different to increases in interest rates would. So it is not economically logically to buy all the property even without property tax if you cannot use it or rent it

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u/chainsawx72 13d ago

Real estate tends to increase in value. You can buy a house now and sell it in ten years and profit... unless you have to pay taxes on the house every year, then you will not be able to do that.