OT - Extreme Makeover Home Edition?

[Mark & Juanita]

It is. What usually winds up happening is that the giver winds up giving the taxes plus the taxes that cover the gift for the taxes. We used to do this at my employer; back when $100 meant something, one of the incentive gifts for employees was to give them a $100 check after they had done something noteworthy (where I came from, it had to be *very* noteworthy -- our employer wasn't exactly known for its largesse income-wise). In order for the employee to walk away with $100, the actual payment wound up being $100 + all of the applicable taxes so the check would really be the intended amount.

+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ If you're gonna be dumb, you better be tough +--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

[Mark & Juanita]

... snip

Thought earlier in the thread, the comment was that they were building

*big* houses. In Kalifornia, isn't a $1M house on the order of a 400 square foot efficiency apartment? +--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ If you're gonna be dumb, you better be tough +--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

[Swingman]

And that typically dodges the real issue .. it is "property" taxes which are the real burden.

Almost all property taxes are based on "appraised value", so any improvements, no matter what scam is used to make them, will result in an increase in the property's value, which results in higher taxes.

[Brian Elfert]

Many of the families are given sums of money or have the mortgage go away or both. The kids usually get college scholarships.

I would bet in most cases the increased property taxes are not going to be any more than the old property taxes and mortgage payments.

Someone whose life is changed by a new house, maybe a new car, and a wad of cash should be able to figure out how to pay the taxes once the money runs out. For the familes that get $100k, they could put it in a bank CD and make enough interest to cover a $4,000 tax bill.

Brian Elfert

[Swingman]

You would lose.

[todd]

I'd be interested to hear the backup for that statement.

todd

[Edwin Pawlowski]

In some cases, yes.

Multi-million dollar lottery winners often end up broke too.

[Doug Brown]

[Brian Elfert]

One of the families is/was appealing a $4,000 property tax bill.

How many families really have a combined mortgage/property tax bill of less than $400 a month?

Brian Elfert

[Swingman]

I give up, how many?

You're running rabbit trails ... read my statement in the context in which it was written as a reply - as answer to the bullshit about "federal and state" taxes being taken care of - not as you're trying to twist/spin it.

[mjmwallace]

Well, no. Not in all municipalities. In ours, a $1 mill, gets you a

2000 - 3500 sq ft house and some acreage - anywhere from 1/2 to 3. Depends on the area. Where this couple live, their house was appraised for over a $ 1 mill.

A 400 sq ft house in SF would run about $600k!

MJ Wallace