If you pay 1% for one house, someone with 2 houses should pay 2%, and a company with 2000 homes should pay 2000%

That would make it increasingly difficult for mega companies to buy up everything and torture the housing market

  • gedaliyah@lemmy.worldOP
    4·
    11 days ago

    The UK has a sales tax like that on home purchases. The problem is that it prevents people from selling houses when their kids move out. It’s too expensive to sell the house and buy a new one, so you have a lot of older couples living in five bedroom houses that are empty.

    • Bane_Killgrind@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
      21·
      11 days ago

      Still better than one corporation owning 500 houses and profiting from them.

      Edit the UK has a vacancy rate of zero of about 73% of corporate landlords, so your older couple could rent rooms to 4 lodgers and come out ahead.

      They won’t, which is a lifestyle choice.

    • manxu@piefed.socialEnglish
      1·
      11 days ago

      I don’t think the UK sales tax has an exception for primary residences, is that correct? That is the key ingredient that is missing: regular people should be able to buy and sell their homes to each other without a tax penalty, it’s only when corporations buy and sell that it should apply (well, individuals, too, if they buy more than one or two).