From: stephen@sprunk.org   
      
   On 14-May-14 10:07, hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com wrote:   
   > This is off topic, but it shows the difference in attitudes of   
   > various parts of the country.   
   >   
   > In NYC, a large apartment complex is up for sale.  Historically, the   
   > complex had modestly priced apartments thanks to certain tax   
   > concessions from the city.  Now the owners are trying to make the   
   > complex market-rate, with many residents objecting.   
   >   
   > I can't help but suspect that in cities in the southwest large   
   > apartments don't have this kind of mishigosh.   
      
   No, because we don't have rent control.  If there isn't enough housing,   
   rents go up, the invisible hand of the market creates more housing, and   
   rents go back down.  We also have much higher property taxes, so there   
   is a strong incentive to either do something productive with your land   
   or sell it to someone who will.   
      
   In contrast, speculators can sit on NYC property worth millions of   
   dollars for decades and pay _nothing_ in taxes, and keeping that   
   property idle forces up rents on the speculators' other properties,   
   which is a big part of why NYC "needs" rent control in the first place!   
    If NYC charged real property taxes on _every_ property (idle or not)   
   and got rid of rent control, the housing "problem" would solve itself   
   within a few years--and they could get rid of their income tax at the   
   same time and still have a huge budget surplus to boot, which could be   
   spent on hundreds of other things that NYC desperately needs to   
   improve/replace.   
      
   S   
      
   --   
   Stephen Sprunk         "God does not play dice."  --Albert Einstein   
   CCIE #3723         "God is an inveterate gambler, and He throws the   
   K5SSS        dice at every possible opportunity." --Stephen Hawking   
      
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