Dean Baker argues that proposals for vacant property taxes, such as one under consideration in Astoria, Oregon, and similar ideas from Zohran Mamdani, rest on a simple self-reporting form rather than the invasive monitoring opponents describe.

He similarly dismisses claims that California’s proposed wealth tax would trigger a stock-market panic, noting that the estimated revenue is less than 0.1 percent of annual U.S. equity trading volume even if paid in a single year.

While acknowledging legitimate policy objections—such as effects on second-home demand or fairness—Baker contends that privacy-invasion and market-crash warnings are unfounded exaggerations that distract from real debate.

We know the Trump crew regularly spews batshit crazy stuff on things like pet-eating migrants and boys being transitioned to girls at school recess. That’s great for the genuinely loony core of Trump supporters, but there is a slightly less crazy type of lie that they tell for those who have pretensions of being serious people.

I came across this yesterday while reading about an initiative in my town (Astoria, Oregon) to have a vacant property tax. I have long been a big fan of vacant property taxes. This stems from the old saying that we should tax things that we want less of. That’s why we have big taxes on cigarettes, alcohol, and gambling. These are all things where most of us agree we would be better off with less.

The same story........

© Eurasia Review