Information Clearinghouse – by Pete Sisco
I’m not talking about the bank holding the mortgage on your home. Even if you think you own your home free and clear, you really don’t own it at all. You lease it from the State and it sets the terms and conditions that allow you to occupy the house or sell it to another lessee. The State owns the house and land in perpetuity and you can not alter this arrangement.
When I was a kid my dad bought a new four-bedroom house in 1964 for about $28,000. He had a good job and stuck his financial neck out by taking on a whopping monthly payment of $190 on a twenty-five year mortgage. He and my mom would talk about how when they got the house paid off they would not have to pay the $190 every month and that would basically put them on Easy Street.
My dad never made it the twenty five years. By the time my mom paid off the mortgage the monthly property tax bill was $450 per month! There is no way to pay that off once and for all and, in fact, it is subject to constant increase by political whim. Eventually the money paid in relentless property taxes exceeds the cost of the home. What was true for her is true for all homeowners.
Moreover, the terms and conditions under which you occupy “your” home are a further burden to you. You can’t add onto the home without permission, you can’t subdivide the land without permission. You can only have certain pets and only a certain number of them. You must maintain the home to a certain standard. Violation of any rule can cause you to lose the home and be evicted for repeated non-compliance with State orders. (After all, they are the true owners.)
Depending on your tax jurisdiction, when you die a large portion of your home’s value can be claimed by the State and your heirs would either have to pony up the cash or sell the home to pay the inheritance taxes. Then the State resets the clock with the new “tenant.”
Throughout the long life of the home the State does not contribute a penny to the expense of the home’s upkeep or the costs of complying with the myriad of regulations concerning things like fence heights, swimming pool regulations, tree trimming, wildfire regulations and dozens of other ordinances or bylaws.
Moreover, the State-granted monopoly utilities provided to the home – water, phone, gas and electricity – are further taxed at constantly increasing rates which you must pay in order to occupy the home.
Claiming to be an “owner” under these unilateral and coercive terms and conditions begs the definition of the word ownership. I have briefly lived in a communist country and I can tell you there is very little practical difference in home ownership there. Oh, plus their kids didn’t have put their hand over their heart and pledge allegiance to the State every morning at school – I guess that would be too Orwellian for communists.
Pete Sisco grew up in Canada, emigrated to California in his twenties and to Idaho in his thirties. He left the USA and has since lived in Belize, Mexico, China, Thailand, England and Spain. Since 2006 he and his wife have been traveling the world non-stop as digital nomads. http://www.petesisco.com
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Was telling friends this twenty years ago and they thought I was nuts.
You own the home and the land. The government (city, county, state, federal) controls the property.
So define ‘ownership’ when it doesn’t include ‘control’. Seems like an odd way to define the word.
“You own your life, but I control it. Isn’t your freedom wonderful? Now go pick that cotton!”
Not so fast, I built with my own two hands along with my wife our own 2400 square foot house. I can take down my house just as fast and build a small one that will not bring in as much taxes for the county coffers. I built it big to house our kids in case times get hard and they need a place to stay, if it becomes a burden, I can build a one room shack that will meet code and demolish this one. I will always owe taxes but I do have the ability to lower it even if it may seem extreme, and no government entity has the right to tell me not to.
Yeah, you have to meet “the code” that is imposed on you at gunpoint. And you call that living in freedom and having full ownership?
It appears you cannot even visualize the freedom some of us can.
And when he tears his huge house down, there is a demo permit and a cost to remove hydro and shut he water off. Now rebuild a little conforming shack-maybe have to get a variance,
a building permit. electrical permit, plumbing permit, health permit for sewer and an occupancy permit. and still taxes. Damn I can’t really say he owns his house.
when the gold and silver was taken out of the currency, it made it possible to inflate and deflate your currency and tax and spend.. The silver and gold was the stop on politicians and bankers.. now it is a free for all. State and county are broke in America, so increase the value on the houses and land, bring in money for the coffers. If you are taxed out of existence, to bad get the hell out and we will get another to take over.
Yes, sadly this is true. If you check your deed, it states you are a tenant. Same goes for your vehicle. Even if you “own” your vehicle outright, try not paying the excise tax, they will take your vehicle from you.
We are considered slaves, and being such, slaves cannot own anything. 🙁
Thank you for having this posted this Diggerdan! I have been trying to explain this to people for years now. They just look at me as if I had two heads.
Yes Sunfire, same here. 🙁 They are fools thinking that they truely own their homes. It does sound nice though doesn`t it.
My husband and I and a few others tried in the mid-90s to get the only truly ownership form of title for our land, called Allodial title, which is what the royal family has on virtually all of Britain and likely Ireland as well…and, for all we know, the whole US of A. Maybe the Rothschilds and Rockefellers own their land through Allodial title, but as for anyone else…forget about it. You pay property as well as school taxes, and the state owns you land regardless…for instance, the state owns the water, mineral, etc. rights. We built our house, but I’m not even sure we truly own it. And if you are in an HOA or POA, you must follow the CC & Rs as well.
there is no state … marc stevens