“Mansion tax” to be introduced by Grosso in DC for homes worth over $1million

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My house probably appraises for over a million now, although I paid about half that.

I'd support this. It's only an incremental tax and there's so much more we could be doing to make DC better.

Absolutely, and I own more than one home in DC appraised at over a million.

Are you under the impression that DC has a budget shortfall?

The issue I have with the tax is the city's inability to have financial transparency and use funds in a fiscally responsible manner. I do not need to agree with all of the spending - but the gross overrun of projects like Ellington where no one cared is an issue.

I agree that Ellington was a disgusting mess, so I’d be happy to vote out the crooks that allowed that. At the same time tger are so many good things we could be doing that would pay dividends as a society.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My house probably appraises for over a million now, although I paid about half that.

I'd support this. It's only an incremental tax and there's so much more we could be doing to make DC better.

Absolutely, and I own more than one home in DC appraised at over a million.

Are you under the impression that DC has a budget shortfall?

The issue I have with the tax is the city's inability to have financial transparency and use funds in a fiscally responsible manner. I do not need to agree with all of the spending - but the gross overrun of projects like Ellington where no one cared is an issue.

I agree that Ellington was a disgusting mess, so I’d be happy to vote out the crooks that allowed that. At the same time tger are so many good things we could be doing that would pay dividends as a society.

But that's the point - the city already has significant budget surpluses, and would have more with even minimal management of projects like Ellington. So an additional tax is not required to fund many of the projects that would help.

The process shouldn't start with, "tax these people because they can afford it," it should start with "we want to XYZ, can we pay for it with existing revenues?" If the answer is no, then you move onto the question of tax increases (among other things).

I don't object in principle to taxes on million dollar homes; I object to the unthinking efforts to raise taxes just 'cause.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: A $1 million dollar home is expensive for DC. Even if you stretched to buy it and are house poor. You're still way rich compared to the 25% of DC residents are living below the poverty line.

Ha! No, no it isn't -- and it sure as hell isn't a mansion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am so done with this guy. He lost me at “mansion” to describe a million dollar property in DC.

"It's about redistributing the wealth, and I think that we can get a lot more recurring dollars in our budget to invest in the priorities that we should be investing in in the District."

Robert White sounds like the adult in the room:

White also noted that there are some "house-poor" homeowners who purchased in certain neighborhoods for the schools, as well as long-time homeowners whose property may be valued high solely because of changing neighborhood valuations, and that the tax wouldn't be equitable if it doesn't capture renters of luxury properties with ample disposable income.

https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/dc-councilmember-grosso-proposing-a-mansion-tax/15375

Welcome to the "Democratic" party my friend.

Grosso is not a Democrat.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My house probably appraises for over a million now, although I paid about half that.

I'd support this. It's only an incremental tax and there's so much more we could be doing to make DC better.

Absolutely, and I own more than one home in DC appraised at over a million.

Are you under the impression that DC has a budget shortfall?

The issue I have with the tax is the city's inability to have financial transparency and use funds in a fiscally responsible manner. I do not need to agree with all of the spending - but the gross overrun of projects like Ellington where no one cared is an issue.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: A $1 million dollar home is expensive for DC. Even if you stretched to buy it and are house poor. You're still way rich compared to the 25% of DC residents are living below the poverty line.

Ha! No, no it isn't -- and it sure as hell isn't a mansion.

You can think whatever you want. But the data prove otherwise. Just like a HHI of 350K isn't "middle class," even though DCUM thinks otherwise.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am so done with this guy. He lost me at “mansion” to describe a million dollar property in DC.

"It's about redistributing the wealth, and I think that we can get a lot more recurring dollars in our budget to invest in the priorities that we should be investing in in the District."

Robert White sounds like the adult in the room:

White also noted that there are some "house-poor" homeowners who purchased in certain neighborhoods for the schools, as well as long-time homeowners whose property may be valued high solely because of changing neighborhood valuations, and that the tax wouldn't be equitable if it doesn't capture renters of luxury properties with ample disposable income.

https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/dc-councilmember-grosso-proposing-a-mansion-tax/15375

Welcome to the "Democratic" party my friend.

OP here. Not sure Grosso is a typical DC Democrat—I think White is a lot more typical.

[Anonymous]

My 1600 square foot "mansion" lol

That said, I think this would only apply on the tax assessment value. That can't rise more than a few percent per year and there's also the Homestead and Senior deductions.

So a senior citizen who lived here for 40 years won't be tripping this threshold unless they were already quite wealthy (eg, a law firm partner who has been in DC forever). I'm not too worried about them and their four homes.

[Anonymous]

If structured correctly, this would apply to the value that is over $1 million. So for example, if the rate were 0.1 percent, then someone with a $1.1 million house might pay ($1,100,000-$1,000,000)*0.001 = $100. And someone with a $2 million house would pay $1,000. (I have absolutely no idea what the rate might be; choose your own rate and adjust the calculation to get your preferred example numbers. E.g., for 1 percent, they would be $1,000 and $10,000 for those values.)

[Anonymous]

Multigenerational DC family, and Virginia’s looking better and better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I love it! Every municipal government should do this.

[Anonymous]

So my 1600 sq ft 3 BR brick colonial is a mansion now. Huh. I though living in a mansion would be cooler than this.

[Anonymous]

Good send more people to VA! We can always use more wealthy people to pay more taxes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I never liked Grosso, but this is only going to make expensive houses even more expensive.

Ridiculous.

His nickname in the District building is “Grasso” because he acts like he’s high frequently.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My house probably appraises for over a million now, although I paid about half that.

I'd support this. It's only an incremental tax and there's so much more we could be doing to make DC better.

Absolutely, and I own more than one home in DC appraised at over a million.

MoCo already has this. And yes, if your home is right at a million, it's incremental which isn't a big deal. If your home is $2 mn, well, you can afford to pay more taxes.

Well, its not like these people bought their houses for $2 million. They may have paid $500K 30 years ago.