Wow, look at that, turns out legislative action representing the people's best interests has been proven infinitely more effective than empowering a dictator to execute everyone who initially refuses to redistribute.
this post was submitted on 19 May 2025
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Corporations hate this trick.
Its as if the solution to capitalism isnt whitewashing regimes that have done some of the worst crimes against humanity possibly but rather government regulations brought upon by democratic action.
Tankies hate this one weird trick!
Wow, look at that, turns out legislative action representing the peopleβs best interests has been proven infinitely more effective than empowering a dictator to execute everyone who initially refuses to redistribute.
Er... I have to admit I'm not up to date on politics in Wales. To what is that referring?
I think they're suggesting that it's better to enact left-leaning legislation to curb unfettered capitalism, than it is to cheer on the free market and let pressure on the working class escalate to where we get a communist revolution, which in turn often results in a violent dictatorship. Probably.
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Never engage with finitebanjo unless you enjoy talking to the human equivalent of a cork board with a bunch of red yarn connecting various unrelated pictures.
Oh
This is a reference to communist revolutions in Cuba, China, and the Soviet Union, and to a lesser extent Venezuela.
Dictators took power in violent revolutions and they did succeed in redistributing wealth but at the cost of thousands to millions of lives, most of whom were civilians.
I mean I can see that, I just don't know what it has to do with this article. Nothing there or in this thread suggests to me that violent autocracies were ever under serious consideration as a contender for "solution to housing crisis in Wales". It looked like the original comment was replying to some kind of previous conversation that I was unaware of.
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I've been saying that for a while that secondary residents should lose all tax benefits and should also have additional tax penalties applied to them as long as there is a housing crisis.
Like a second house should cost you double, and if you get a third, then the second and third should cost you triple, and so on and so forth, so that having multiple homes would be a sign of wealth and not an investment practice.
You roll that out with a gradual phase in and you would solve the housing crisis in like 7 to 10 years.
The penalties should be higher for short term rental properties-if itβs listed on Airbnb or VRBO or similar, taxes double.
This should be tied to the multiple properties IMO. With home prices today you may have to AirBNB out the house and live in a shed in the yard for a few years just to afford the mortgage.
Agree, and I missed the fact that I didnβt make that clear. If Airbnb stayed what their initial marketing portrayed them to be (connecting people who had a spare room or mother-in-law suite that was unoccupied with people who wanted a more genuine local experience,) Iβd have no problem with them.
Yeah government needs to start ratcheting down on landlords. Tax rental properties as commercial businesses, as well as taxing rental income at a higher rate. If a landlord can't afford that anymore, then they sell the property and get a real job.
A general wealth tax is much more effective.
I agree there needs to be some kind of exponentially growing tax rate for multiple houses. It might kick in after two houses since a single shared vacation home between a family should be fairly affordable.
That being said its basically impossible to get a vacation home now. No one should have 3+ homes without paying much much more.
We can't sustain everyone owning a holiday home in the UK, we are in a housing crisis.
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I can't wrap my head around why anyone needs or wants more than one house or flat.
Maybe because much of my life has been lived in areas with holiday homes, and the seasonal nature of life going from hardly anyone around to overrun with privileged assholes feels intensely unnatural and damaging to places where communities used to exist.
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Good. Vacation homes should be taxed, and foreigners should get an even bigger tax. Local citizens and businesses should get preferable treatment, so that communities can be more closely knit together. The wealthy are corrosive to society, breaking down many humans for the sake of a few.
foreigners should get an even bigger tax.
Yeah, the Channel Island of Jersey only allows foreigners to buy property if they had lived in the islands for five years. They are only a handful places in the UK where they have relatively less pressure on housing. Not sure if they still do it though. Regardless, I am all for this.
The wealthy are corrosive to society, breaking down many humans for the sake of a few.
The rich co-opted being against rich, corporate landlords-- or any rich individuals-- from overseas buying local properties and contributing to housing crisis as "racist". I feel like this is talked about less. Instead, actual decent working foreigners are scapegoated.
"The rich co-opted being against rich, corporate landlords-- or any rich individuals-- from overseas buying local properties and contributing to housing crisis as βracist."
It's not racism. It's classism. I don't care care if the rich out of town asshole is white, brown or yellow, I care that they are a rich asshole and they are wrecking things for the rest of us.
It's 150% of the old tax rate, not 150% of the value of the home, in case anyone's wondering.
I was excited for a second
Well, seemingly it still works!
Damn that is a misleading title. "Wales is increasing taxes by 50% for second homes, and..." would be better. Or more accurate, at least; probably not generate more clicks.
Why would it be 150% of the value of the home. In most places in America the property tax rate is around 1%. This would make it 2.5%. that's still a lot for the average boomer with a second home possibly on a fixed income from pension and social security.
Boomer wants a second home he can put it in his grandkids name. Not like the kid is going to be able to afford his own place anyway till grampa dies and leaves everyone that boomer gold they got hoarded away
I have been advocating for triple the real estate taxes on ho.es that are not the primary residence for people. And that only people, not corporations, can own residential single family homes.
And look, it works.
Blackrock didn't like that.
This seems to target home owners that either rent or just park wealth in a second home as asset and then also try to evade the taxes by register their second home as a business to pay a lower tax rate.
This doesn't target landlord / asset management companies at all. Not sure if they are a thing in Wales.
Far better than burning themβ¦
I need to know if my uncle still has his cottageβ¦
Note that the UK does not have a property tax, and is unusual in doing so; I recall reading that it is the only G7 member to not do so.
They do have a (mostly flat) council tax, and a transfer tax.
We have a few states in the US that don't, but normally there is an annual percentage tax on the value of a house. That varies by state, but is typically on the order of 1%.
Council tax in the UK is banded based on the size of the property so isn't that the equivalent of the US property tax?
The bands are why I'm saying "mostly" flat. There is a small amount of scaling, but it quickly hits a cap. If you have a mansion, you aren't paying 1% of its value in tax annually.
kagis
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/understand-how-council-tax-bands-are-assessed
In England, the top band's ceiling is 320,000 pounds.
In Wales, 424,000 pounds.
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/house-prices/wales-68336.html
House prices in Wales have an overall average of Β£441,640 over the last year.
EDIT: The price used is, for Wales, from 2003, so it's typically about half of the current market value, in fairness, but it still illustrates that the thing cuts off at a certain, fairly low level.
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Enforce it retroactively as well. Then use the taxes to pay for community improvement that was voted on by the community.
Interesting. So it sounds like this is an area with a lot of personal vacation homes? They're pretty uncommon in general, so I doubt it would change much where I live.
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