69 Comments
тна Return to thread

I have read your column only a few months and became a subscriber over the last few weeks. You do an exceptional job of writing timely, well researched, and compelling pieces.

Thankyou.

Expand full comment

Even when you have paid off the mortgage, rising property taxes can cause you to lose your home. We must always live in fear of becoming homeless. I believe I have a condition I call "poverty trauma" from living on the edge of being homeless for so many years. I nearly have anxiety attacks when required to spend money over a certain amount.

Expand full comment

In a way, rising property taxes are a way investors shift the costs of their actions to everyday people. When these investors buy a house, they rent it and shift the taxes to the renters. Those still in their homes as owners are also impacted by the speculative highs of home values for taxes. Next, of course, can come a market crash during which average homeowners are wiped out and investors use the bankruptcy courts to buy even more properties.

Quite the vicious cycle!

Expand full comment

While paying off a mortgage, why does the mortgage payer have to pay the full amount of property taxes when they don't yet own the property?

Expand full comment

Excellent observation! Several years ago I was defending a client who had defaulted on a business loan. We did the best we could to highlight the way the lender had engaged in some conduct that was arguably a defense. The judge would have none of it. She sternly lectured my client that he should not have any defense to a lender. This is very typical of how the judiciary is in the pocket of big money and banking.

Expand full comment

Had a similar experience in state court in Colorado. It almost seemed as though the judge was an employee of the bank!

I quit the ABA after one annual meeting when it became very clear to me that the association was there to protect wealth and the wealthy.

Expand full comment