Perhaps an overhaul is needed. When the ID Constitution was written, I don’t think vacation homes were much of an issue. Maybe we should allow absentee landlords the ability to vote on property tax matters even if they live out of district.

However, I see absentee landlords causing lots of problems. Neglected rental properties and derelict properties bring down property values thus limiting tax revenue. Admittedly, I don’t have a scientific study to back this up, but I think in many cases it’s easy to tell an owner-occupied property from a rental.

EDITOR NOTE–Cynic, gotta think outside the residential box. We are not talking vacation property and rental houses. We are talking Shopping malls, hotel chains, restaurant chains, franchises, sporting goods, department stores, real estate firms, etc. They can ALL be absentee landlords.

What you are really saying is only landowners should be allowed to vote. Why don’t we take it back to basics even further and make white anglo saxon protestant males the only ones allowed to vote?

That’s what the onerous super-majority restriction does, in effect.

No one has answered the question I posed the last time this came up.

Why should 1 person have the power to tell us other 2 what to do?

Hey, George Bush didn’t have a super-majority in 00 and 04 yet he became President of the United States, the man with his finger on the nuclear weapons trigger.

EDITOR NOTE–The reason our constitution requires a 2/3 vote for long term debt is because it is SUPPOSED to be difficult to pass. If a bond proposal FAILS by even a simple majority, they just turn around and bring it back again 6 months later. If it PASSES there is no recourse to repeal it 6 months later. “NO” doesn’t mean “NO,” it just means “not right now.” THAT is the main reason we have a 2/3 majority safeguard. Also, in Ada County about half the assessed property value is without a vote…it is either commercial property or owned by non-residents.

In Valley County a huge amount of property parcels are owned by non-residents and they have no vote in their property taxes at all. Again, a 2/3 majority requirement safeguards the minority imposing its will on the majority.

In feudal times only property owners could vote. There are no doubt some landlords who would support a simple majority vote of either property owners or REGISTERED voters.

However, the tax code provisions are not democratic when it comes to the assessment process. The criteria for raising property valuations is arbitrary and tied, not to a vote, but to forces which no one can control. This problem is magnified when it comes to a person’s primary residence. This country has always placed a high value on home ownership, yet, the uncontrollable rise in property taxes on personal residences threatens this widely held value.

The tax code is also counter-intuitive and detrimentally affects homeowners and
especially young homeowners and those approaching retirement age, and even the
economy.

EDITOR NOTE–Actually the value of a house serves as the BASIS for a tax LEVY (% of value that is taxed) which is indeed determined by the cost of services.

Heck, they don’t care about foreclosures. Somebody will buy the property and will have title and they will eventually get their property taxes.

I for one am glad the era of “home as investment” is over. It is a place to live, raise a family and ward off the elements. The notion that there is only so much land and you better buy now has been proven to be a myth. Bad in the short run but good long term.

Real estate is a very non-liquid place to put your money and now people have good reason to think about renting a place to live. Keeps mobility options open for those not ready to settle down.

Now, those unfortunate people who paid their mortgages, didn’t take out home equity loans, saved for retirement get to reap the benefits of interest on savings which are less than inflation (if they were lucky enough to not have a great deal of exposure to stocks). They get to watch inflation soar. They get to see their taxes go up to pay off Wall Street. They get laid off like everyone else.

We, as a nation had better be careful, or we may actually learn something from all of this.

There’s more good info about CDS at the Washington Post. Please note Mike Crapo is trying to grab the upcoming re-regulation power for his own committee. The Ag committee, and I contend CDS have little to do with agriculture.

WP article “3 Agencies Vie for Oversight of Swaps” here: http://tinyurl.com/5lccde

Credit default swaps enabled private mortgage companies like Countrywide et al, offload their riskiest loans. There was every incentive and little disincentive to make as many mortgage loans as possible regardless of creditworthiness.

It was as if the system had a license to print their own money. You know what happens when too much money is printed? Yep, you guessed it, Inflation.

Think about it, inflation was mostly in check except for the housing sector.

Nobody likes gov’t regulation but who would argue in favor of speeding in a school zone? Who would argue in favor of shooting ranges with no back stops next to a daycare?

Do you mean agencies like the Idaho Housing Authority?

These are the sleaze balls are “repackaging” (ie disguising) Tamaracks bond so that companies that are prohibited from investing in real estate can be suckered into investing in Tamarack real estate.

Even when the system is melting under our feet, it is amazing to me that people in institutions like IHFA have no concept that is acts such as their that led to, and perpetuate the debacle.

EDITOR NOTE–We agree the IHFA was considering an ill fated program, but it appears the deal is off the table and Credit Suisse has a receiver appointed to take care of things for the short term.