Yes I said it. Rent you pay to a landlord should not be
taxed. Here are my reasons.
Rent should be non-taxable: Landlords dole out property, or
apartments to people who otherwise cannot afford to buy regular homes. In
short, for low income earners they do a service by keeping these people housed
and off the streets. Additionally, the landlord may be earning a stipend
from his/her tenants on his/her land, but it is not earned income. In
this case it is the tenants paying for the upkeep of the house or apartment,
and to help the landlord pay the local taxes (usually property taxes) as per
the contract to live there. The landlord need not lift a single finger to
provide any service however, as he/she can simply hire an outside repairman or
group to maintain the property for them. Likewise, the tenants who live
on the property, with the landlord's permission, can hire their own repairmen,
or others to maintain the property for them. As such, while the landlord
owns the land, he/she is not necessarily providing a service to the tenants in
the first place. Thus, it can be said that the money gained from the
tenants is not earned income and is instead unearned income. By
eliminating taxes on such people (the landlords and owners of apartment
buildings) it enables them to potentially lower the rent, provide better
services, begin to provide services or even buy additional homes/buildings to
rent out.
Conclusion: People may have misgivings about
this due to people like Donald Trump being counted in this category. In
short, landlords and apartment managers have a bad stigma attached and
successful ones a worse stigma. However, these people provide a service
to a community whether it be for the poor, or for the rich who otherwise would
build gaudy mansions. There is really no need to tax people with respect
to rent as it is not earned, and thus taxes on it should cease to exist.
No comments:
Post a Comment