> And what on earth does Chicago have to do with San Francisco or New York?
This was such a laughable comparison because BOTH of these cities have high property taxes compared with more affordable cities in other states.
This was such a laughable comparison because BOTH of these cities have high property taxes compared with more affordable cities in other states.
I rented a house once in West Portal where the landlord was paying property taxes on the 1970 value of the home, which was something like $70k. The owner was gifted this house and taxes basis from their parents, who originally bought it. The tax bill came out to just a few thousand dollars as of 2020.
Meanwhile my neighbor at the time bought their house for $3m and was paying something like $35k.
I thought about writing the property taxes in front of each house on the sidewalk with sidewalk chalk to make a point how messed up this tax policy is, but I opted instead to keep the peace and do nothing.
This loophole is used by families in CA as a way to pass assets to their heirs. The worst part is the tax rate also gets passed down, but one generation tops.
https://www.officialdata.org/ca-property-tax/#37.74219147779...
As a result, my neighbor has a house with an effective tax rate of <0.1% ($3,000/yr on a single family house worth >$3M).
I'm less familiar with San Francisco, but I wouldn't be surprised if they had low property taxes due to Prop 13.