Get Rich Education 486: Should We Eliminate the Property Tax? Featuring Tom Wheelwright
California is strengthening protections for tenants. I discuss. It's already a disadvantageous state for real estate investors.
My Property Manager had my tenant's $1,550 rent payment stolen from his drop box last year. He expects me to take the loss. I won't. Who is liable for the payment - the thief, bank, tenant, manager, or the investor (me)?
Tom Wheelwright, CEO of WealthAbility, joins me. We discuss the role of property tax in funding essential services.
The conversation touches on the regressive nature of property tax, alternatives to it, and the importance of understanding tax strategies.
US taxes of all types keep ratcheting higher over time. But they're still lower than most world nations.
The episode also considers the impact of elections on tax policies, emphasizing the need for informed voting regarding taxation.
You need a tax professional that knows how to find you all the deductions for real estate investors here: GetRichEducation.com/Tax
Timestamps:
Landlord-Tenant Relationships (00:00:00)
Discussion on landlord-tenant relationships, stolen rent payment, and potential elimination of property tax.
New Renter Protections in California (00:02:30)
Overview of new laws in California regarding upfront deposit amounts, eviction protections, and banning of crime-free housing policies.
Options for Homeowners in California (00:03:50)
Details about new housing laws in California, including more options for accessory dwelling units and their impact on the housing crisis.
Stolen Rent Payment Dilemma (00:05:53)
Narrative about a stolen rent payment, liability concerns, and the property manager's proposed resolution.
Feasibility of Eliminating Property Tax (00:13:45)
Discussion on the possibility of abolishing property tax and its funding of schools, fire departments, and police services.
Property Tax Funding (00:18:37)
Insights into the funding of property tax and its allocation to schools, fire departments, and police services.
Property Tax and Its Impact (00:19:37)
Discussion on the challenges and implications of property tax as a wealth tax and its regressive nature.
National Property Tax Rates (00:20:40)
Exploration of the national average property tax rate and its impact on property value and inflation.
Proposition 13 in California (00:21:34)
Analysis of the impact and benefits of Proposition 13 in California, which limits property tax increases for homeowners staying in the same home.
Alternatives to Property Tax (00:23:27)
Exploration of alternative taxation methods, such as transaction tax and the potential elimination of property tax in favor of a transaction tax.
Primary Residence Capital Gains Tax Exemption (00:25:16)
Insights into the primary residence capital gains tax exemption and its impact on homeowners, including the need for inflation adjustments.
Future Taxation Trends (00:27:24)
Discussion on the potential for heavier taxation and comparisons with taxation policies in other countries.
Potential New Tax Types (00:29:16)
Exploration of the possibility of new tax types, including the concept of a poll tax and its implications.
Value Added Tax and Tax Reduction Strategies (00:31:17)
Insights into the potential implementation of a value-added tax in the United States and strategies for tax reduction through understanding the tax code.
Selecting the Right Tax Advisor (00:33:00)
Advice on choosing a qualified CPA and the importance of having a knowledgeable tax advisor for effective tax planning.
Election Year and Taxation Policies (00:34:54)
Analysis of the potential impact of the upcoming election on taxation policies and the importance of considering tax implications when voting.
Property Tax and School Funding (end)
Perspective on property tax funding for schools and the broader community impact, addressing objections to paying property tax.
Property Tax (00:37:07)
Discussion on the controversial nature of property tax and its impact on property ownership.
Tax Strategy and Deductions (00:38:13)
Importance of finding the right tax professional for real estate investors to maximize deductions and benefits.
Disclaimer (00:39:25)
Legal disclaimer regarding the information provided in the podcast and the need to consult appropriate professionals for personalized advice.
Resources mentioned:
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https://www.amazon.com/Tax-Free-Wealth-Massive-Permanently-Lowering/dp/1612681204
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Complete episode transcript:
Keith Weinhold (00:00:00) - Welcome to GRE. I'm your host, Keith Weinhold. California and new renter protections. My own property manager had my tenants rent payments stolen from his drop box, and he wants me to take the loss. Then Tom Wheelwright joins me for a discussion about can we abolish the property tax today on get rich education? If you like the Get Rich Education podcast, you're going to love our Don't Quit Your Daydream newsletter. No, I here I write every word of the letter myself. It wires your mind for wealth. It helps you make money in your sleep and updates you on vital real estate investing trends. It's free. Sign up and Get Rich Education. Com slash letter. It's real content that makes a real difference in your life, spiced with a dash of humor. Rather than living below your means, learn how to grow your means right now. You can also easily get the letter by texting GRE to 66866. Text GRE to 66866.
Speaker 2 (00:01:06) - You're listening to the show that has created more financial freedom than nearly any show in the world.
Speaker 2 (00:01:13) - This is get rich education.
Keith Weinhold (00:01:22) - Welcome to GRE! From Montpelier, France, to Montpelier, Vermont, and across 188 nations worldwide. And Keith Weinhold, in your listening to get rich education across the United States, it's fortunate for us that states with landlord friendly policies also tend to be those states where the numbers make sense to. And for landlord tenant relationships, it's the state and local policies that often trump the national ones. Now, of course, in residential real estate or any real estate for that matter. I mean, you can make money in all 50 states, of course, but there's a reason that we generally avoid certain places, and that includes California. One difficulty in California has long been the process of getting a prompt eviction. It can be hard to do that even if you have just cause, where it can take months and months, or even longer than a year to get an eviction. Let's listen in to this minute and a half clip on how tenants rights are being strengthened in California. Just a little more.
Speaker 3 (00:02:30) - Well, every month, renters in California spend a hefty portion of their paychecks on housing. And as we kick off, 2024, seven is on your side with the new laws. Renters should know to save some money and also protect themselves against eviction. Before you lock in an apartment, you usually need your first month plus a security deposit in advance. Well, now the amount you have to pay up front could potentially drop by thousands of dollars.
Speaker 4 (00:02:54) - Landlords can now charge just one month of security deposit up front, and previously they could charge two months if the unit was unfurnished or even up to three months of the unit was furnished.
Speaker 3 (00:03:05) - Renters are also getting new eviction protections. Soon, it will be harder for landlords to evict a tenant under the no fault, just cause policy. Currently, a tenant can be evicted if the landlord or landlord's family is going to move in, but starting April 1st, the landlord or their family will have to move in within 90 days and live there for at least a year.
Speaker 3 (00:03:24) - Local governments are also now banned from crime free housing policies. Cities and counties can't mandate penalties or evictions against people who have been charged, convicted or had police called on them. The ban also applies to the family members of tenants. Now, renters are not the only ones benefiting from the new housing laws. Homeowners will now have more options when it comes to so-called granny flats or accessory dwelling units.
Speaker 4 (00:03:50) - Now they can separate and either build or sell an Adu and accessory dwelling unit and sell that separately as a condo. Lawmakers think that that's something that's going to help the state's housing crisis.
Speaker 3 (00:04:02) - And with housing prices sky high, this could give many would be homebuyers the opportunity they need to afford a starter home.
Keith Weinhold (00:04:09) - Yeah. So there it is in California this year. Lower upfront deposit amounts for tenants and more protection from evictions. California landlords, they can now charge just one month of security deposit upfront. That's the most they can charge. Previously, they could charge two months if the unit was unfurnished and up to three months security deposit if the unit was furnished.
Keith Weinhold (00:04:36) - Now, on the flip side, you've got to give California credit for helping homeowners, existing homeowners. They will now have more options when it comes to so-called ADUs accessory dwelling units, which some people call granny flats, because now they can separate and either build or sell in Adu. They could sell that separately as a condo, and that might help California's affordable housing crisis and the housing shortage crisis that could give more California homebuyers the opportunity that they need to afford a starter home. So that is better for first time homebuyers in California. And whether you live there or not, this matters. California has the same population as all of Canada in between 11 and 12% of all US residents are indeed Californians. Let me tell you about a completely weird situation that I have with one of my property managers. Now, I own rental properties in different states around the US, and each of those local markets has their own manager, and you might have this situation as well. Or perhaps that's what you would soon like to do to have this situation of having properties in multiple markets.
Keith Weinhold (00:05:53) - Well, about 12 months ago now, I got a message from a property manager that manages a bunch of single family homes for me in this one particular area, and he let me know that I was not going to be seeing a rent payment for one of my tenants. And that's because the tenant paid the rent, but they paid it with a paper money order that was left in the manager's overnight drop box and the mail from that box. Was broken into by a thief and stolen. And then apparently the thief converted the money order at the bank by in this house. Unbelievable. By waiting out the name of the money order recipient, which I guess would have been the manager. And then the thief wrote in his own name on the Wite-out. Now there were three tenants that had their payments stolen from my property manager like this. So mine was one of the three from my tenant. And the thief also broke into two other real estate offices around the same time. So the thief broke into three offices total, apparently.
Keith Weinhold (00:07:01) - Now, the question that we're leading up to here is, I tell you more about this. Who is liable for this missing payment? And really, there are five parties here where you could give an answer. Is it the thief, the manager, the tenant, the bank or me? The investor who is liable for that stolen payment? Who should make good on it? Who will make good on it? Now, the amount that we're talking about is a stolen rent of $1,550. Okay. This is a rental single family home that I have. So I've been out this $1,550 for about a year now. And by the way, the tenant that had the rent payment stolen a full year ago, they still live there in their rent is now 1750, but it was 1550 them. Now I'm only making a thing of this a full year later and starting to ask my manager to make me whole now. And that's just because I've got a lot going on in life and $1,550. That's just not enough to make that big of a deal over.
Keith Weinhold (00:08:03) - But when life took a pause and I got to thinking about this some more, the principle of it is really bothersome. Wouldn't it bother you? I mean, if I let others like my manager get away with something like this, then I could get walked all over in other ways. Now, when I requested that the manager paid me because it was their drop box that it was stolen from, really, the only answer that they want to give me is that they can't pay because they don't have insurance to cover that type of loss. Well, I don't either. Now, should the bank be the liable party here for processing a payment where the pay to name was whited out, and then the criminal wrote over it with his name? And by the way, the criminal used his real name. And that's also part of how he got caught, which is unbelievable. And they also, though they do know who the criminal is because they have video surveillance of him at the bank depositing the money orders. I mean, how should he have been able to catch them? But the process of trying to get the criminal to remedy this or the bank to remedy this, those approaches have not worked.
Keith Weinhold (00:09:14) - And I think that the manager wants me to take the loss and pay because he doesn't want to take the loss. And you know, something? Admittedly, between the tenant, the manager and I, I'm probably the one that could most afford the loss, but that does not make it right now. At last, check the property manager who keeps refusing to pay up. They propose something ridiculous that I want to share with you in a moment. You're not going to believe it. Well, as you know, you have a written management agreement when you enter in an agreement to have your manager manage your property for you and that management agreement that's between you, the investor and your manager, just those two parties. And as we know, one job that your manager does for you is that they collect the rent for you. So I figured what I would go do is look at my management agreement, and I'm going to go cite that line where it says that the manager collects the money for the property owner.
Keith Weinhold (00:10:16) - But would you believe it? Nowhere in our agreement does it state that the manager collects the payment for the owner. So here's one lesson. The next time you're signing a new management agreement, see that that line is in there. I think it's just kind of easy to assume that it is. But, you know, those agreements, they're typically written by the property management company. So they might write it in ways that protect them. But here's the thing. The manager still doesn't want to pay $1,550 and was stolen from the drop box. They had proposed something that seems wild to me when I said I'm not going to let go. They told me that their plan is to ask the tenant to pay by adding an extra 150 or $200 to their monthly rent payment until the deficit is paid up. So that would be what, something like eight months of payments. Now, I doubt that the tenant would agree to something like that. If the manager is accepting rent in a drop box, it seems like it's the manager's responsibility to make sure that it's secured.
Keith Weinhold (00:11:20) - So to me, of the five parties involved here, it should be either the criminal, the bank for processing the payment that way, or the manager that should be held liable. One of those three parties, not the property owner and not the tenant. So you've got to believe that I consider firing this property manager and using someone else. And by the way, whenever you have to do that, if you ever do have to do that, and I've had to do it before, you can ask the provider that sold you the property for new property management recommendations, or you can find some new property managers by checking online forums with other clients that have actually used property managers. If you replace your manager. What that does is that your manager, they're going to lose more than just that 8 to 10% monthly management fee. They'd also lose future leasing fees. They lose any arrangements that they have with service providers to service your property, like plumbers and electricians. When it comes time for you to sell your properties that your manager manages for you, that manager might also lose the ability to collect referral fees at that, manager has the real estate license so you can make firing your manager hurt them more than you might think.
Keith Weinhold (00:12:40) - Now, I don't like hurting anyone in business. That's why I'm trying to find a constructive way to resolve this. But the manager has had a long time to make this right with me. They're probably just hoping I would forget about the whole thing. The property manager does not want to take the loss, and I will not either. I'll keep you updated on how this weird situation concludes here, but yeah. Hey, I'm an investor just like you. I want to dig in and get involved sometimes and see if something like a stolen rent payment happened with a stock that you own. I mean, you might take the loss there and you wouldn't even know that it happened. So I like real estate investing trends agency with a manager. I don't have the day to day involvement responsibility, but yet I can see a lot of what's going on with the monthly statements that they send me. Or if I have a concern, I know who I can directly contact to remedy something. And if you're a new real estate investor, please be mindful that this situation with my manager and the stolen rent payment is not typical at all.
Keith Weinhold (00:13:45) - In 20 years of doing this, I have never had a situation like this. In a few minutes here, we're going to discuss how feasible it is that America could eliminate the property tax altogether. And our guests. He's also going to tell us why he's been seeing more people like you paying tax on the gain from the sale of your primary residence. Hey, would you like to see me at breaking down real estate investing concepts on a whiteboard? Yes, a magic marker in hand with a whiteboard and an easel. Well, you can watch me do that from the comfort of your home. Over on our YouTube channel, we recently launched our explained series, and I begin it by breaking down basics and just showing you an actual net worth and actual cash flow statement, and then figuring out how you can take those and learn exactly when you can quit your job and retire. It's easier to do the numbers over there than it is here on an audio format, and later I'll whiteboard some more advanced concepts for you soon, like explaining an inverted yield curve.
Keith Weinhold (00:15:00) - Watch me on the whiteboard in our explained series. It is free on YouTube right now and our channel is pretty easy to find because it's called get Rich education. Eliminating the property tax. Next I'm Keith White hold. You're listening to get rich education. Role under the specific expert with income property, you need Ridge lending group and MLS 42056 in gray history, from beginners to veterans, they provided our listeners with more mortgages than anyone. It's where I get my own loans for single family rentals up to four Plex's. Start your pre-qualification and chat with President Charlie Ridge personally. They'll even customize a plan tailored to you for growing your portfolio. Start at Ridge Lending group.com Ridge lending group.com. You know, I'll just tell you, for the most passive part of my real estate investing, personally, I put my own dollars with Freedom Family Investments because their funds pay me a stream of regular cash flow in returns are better than a bank savings account up to 12%. Their minimums are as low as 25 K. You don't even need to be accredited for some of them.
Keith Weinhold (00:16:20) - It's all backed by real estate and that kind of love. How the tax benefit of doing this can offset capital gains and your W-2 jobs income. And they've always given me exactly their stated return paid on time. So it's steady income, no surprises while I'm sleeping or just doing the things I love. For a little insider tip, I've invested in their power fund to get going on that text family to 66866. Oh, and this isn't a solicitation. If you want to invest where I do, just go ahead and text family to six, 686, six.
Speaker 5 (00:17:02) - This is author Christine Tait. Listen to get Rich education with Keith Reinhold and don't quit your Daydream.
Keith Weinhold (00:17:19) - A renowned tax and wealth expert is back on the show with us today. He's also a CPA, and he's the CEO of a terrific tax firm called Wealth Ability. He's the best selling author of the Mega-popular book Tax Free Wealth, which you may very well want to check out again, because he just updated that book with a third edition. I have the original tax free wealth on my bookshelf.
Keith Weinhold (00:17:40) - Welcome back to Dr. Tom Wheelwright. Thanks, Keith. Always good to be on your show. Tom, we have a lot of real estate investors listening. Why don't we talk about property tax? It applies to one whether they own income, property or whether they own a primary residence. Tom, I thought about the discussion that we were going to have today. I was thinking about it yesterday. And you know what happened? I looked out my window and the garbage had just been picked up from the curb, and this was shortly after my driveway was plowed of snow. Okay, now, if an alien came down from another planet and we described that there's a property tax in the United States, so we'll probably believe, oh, all right. Well, they're going to like, pick up your trash and like, plow your driveway for you and everything for that property tax you pay. It's like, oh no. Well those are separate services that I pay. So really what I'm getting at is maybe more philosophically in big picture, should there be a property tax? That's a big question.
Keith Weinhold (00:18:37) - Yeah. But let's do talk about what property tax funds. So property tax funds schools. It's the primary funding mechanism of schools. If you talk to an old timer they still call it school tax sometimes. Yeah it funds schools. It funds fire departments. It funds the police. So those are the three big services that have funds. This is why, by the way, Keith, when there was that group in Seattle that took over that section of the city and the government refused to send to kick those people out. I don't know if you remember this a couple of years ago. And I'm going, wait a minute, why are we paying property taxes? Because the police force and the fire department were being paid by property taxes on the buildings that had been taken over by this renegade group. Wow. And so I have a commercial property. I pay a huge property tax on that commercial property doesn't house children, so I don't send children to school, but I still pay tax for education. Why? Because I need educated employees, so I'm happy to do that.
Keith Weinhold (00:19:37) - I pay for fire protection. I pay it for police protection. I think what the money is used for generally is fine. I don't have an issue with that. The challenge I have with the property tax is twofold. One is it is a true wealth tax. If your property goes up in value, you pay more tax and it's a tax on inflation, because if you're a property goes up in value because of inflation, you pay more tax. And then second of all, you're out to sell your property. But it's also a regressive tax. So people who have no more income, they're on fixed income, they're Social Security. They have a pension plan whatever that their property goes up because of inflation, not because it's a better property and they're paying more tax even though their incomes not going up. That's my biggest challenge with property tax. That's really a good point. I had never thought about it that way before. The property tax can be a regressive tax. Therefore you pay a higher rate with a lower income, which is what a regressive tax means.
Keith Weinhold (00:20:40) - I know that some jurisdictions try to help senior citizens out with that. Maybe you both say like the first 100 K of assessed property value is exempt. But yeah, on basis you're right about that. With it being a regressive tax. Tom, I kind of look around the landscape. We deal with a lot of markets and properties and providers nationwide here at gray, and I seem to see a national effect of property tax rate of about 1%, something like that's pretty common 1% of value on a 500 K property. You're going to pay about $5,000 in property tax. Of course, that varies substantially. New Jersey is a really high one. So the states in the Deep South are really low ones. But what are your thoughts about that 1% average national effect? Think about that tax rate. Let's say you bought that property for $50,000. You bought the property for $50,000 based on your income. You bought it for $50,000. Now, because of inflation, it's $500,000. Now it's really a 10% of what you bought it for.
Keith Weinhold (00:21:34) - So it's not really 1% anymore. It's 1% of the price value. It's not 1% of what you paid for it. This is where California with prop 13 they apt their property tax. Right. If you didn't move into a new property. I loved that proposition. Frankly, I love prop 13 because what I said was, look, if you're staying the same home, your property tax isn't going to go up. Because you get no more value out of it than you did when you bought it. So why are you getting more tax even though you're not getting more value? That makes no sense. I'm not a big fan. You know, like Texas has a they rely heavily on property. Remember we have three types of taxes. We have an income tax. We have a transaction tax which the biggest one is sales tax. But it's also excise taxes. And then we have property tax. And property tax and estate tax are the only two wealth taxes we have. And property tax is a true wealth tax.
Keith Weinhold (00:22:29) - Why is it allowed. Why can we have a property tax in our hometown. But we can't have a federal property tax because Constitution doesn't allow a federal property tax. But our state constitution probably does allow a state property tax. And so robbery taxes are really interesting. I talk about in tax free wealth. Tax wealth has a chapter on property sales and property tax. It's my least favorite tax because again A it's regressive and B it's a tax on something I've never realized. The only benefit I have is that I live in it. But that benefit's not gone up even though the property tax goes up. You brought up so many interesting things there. Sure, that proposition in California is what kept people staying in their homes for a very long time. But we think about property tax and should there even be one? As we ponder that big question, what do other nations do? Because a lot of times I know you look at foreign nations tax policies. Most localities. A lot of them have a local property tax.
Keith Weinhold (00:23:27) - I don't think it's uncommon. What's interesting to me is that Missouri is looking at getting rid of their property tax and putting in a transaction tax instead. So in other words, you don't pay a tax for owning the property. You only pay a tax when you sell it. Well, that actually makes more sense. You know, in previous episode we talked about more versus United States. We talked about that whole idea of a wealth tax and realized gain. And some states do this already. California does this, Hawaii does this, Pennsylvania does this where you have a tax when you sell the property, an excise tax when you sell the property, or a transfer tax, if you will? That makes some sense because you did get the money. You actually have the ability to pay the tax. It's not coming out of your earnings. It came out of the sale of the property. So it's a tax on the sale. Frankly, if I had to choose, I would probably choose the transaction tax.
Keith Weinhold (00:24:23) - I mean, I would choose to have very little tax. I think we need fire. We need police. Those two things we absolutely need we need roads. We should have taxes to pay for those school. I'm a fan of school choice. And should we have property tax pay for those? Or is that something that we ought to pay for some other way? I don't know, there is argument that, again, that should be maybe you ought to pay that out of sales tax or a transaction tax. Yeah. I think I'm feeling your vibe on that one time that a transfer tax of real estate is somewhat more palatable than this ongoing property tax that you have to pay, because the transfer tax probably is realizing a gain there. Along with that, even though we probably don't like that piled on top of ongoing property tax, for sure. We think about property taxes, something that applies to every homeowner, whether they own income, property or not, is the pretty well known primary residence capital gains tax exemption for quite a while.
Keith Weinhold (00:25:16) - That's been 250 K if you're single and 500 K if you're married. Can you tell us more about that and where the direction of that's going? And is that adjusting with inflation or what are your thoughts. Yeah, it's not adjusting for inflation unfortunately. It's interesting. Some things adjust for inflation. Some things don't. Tax brackets adjust the exclusion for your primary residence doesn't. And your deduction for miles driven for charity doesn't adjust for inflation. But your deduction for miles driven for work does adjust for inflation. So it's very interesting to see what does Congress say. We're going to adjust for for inflation. What they don't. That came into effect under Bill Clinton prior to his presidency. You had to actually put your new house, had to be worth more than your old house is very much like a 1031 exchange where as long as you bought a new house that was equal to or greater in price than the sales price of your old house, you paid no tax but the minute you went down. So when, for example, you're retiring and you decide, well, I don't need all this house, my kids are gone, I'm going to go move into a condo on the golf course, or I just don't need that much space.
Keith Weinhold (00:26:25) - Then you had to pay tax. What happened in the Clinton era was we actually got this exclusion, which is as long as you live in the house for two years, two out of the last five years, you get 100% exclusion on the gain, up to 250, like you said, 250 single, 500 joint. I would love to see them index that. I think it needs to be indexed. Frankly, they need to adjust it retroactively because too many people got caught in this last run up where for the first time ever, I saw a lot of people paying tax on the gain from the sale of their house. Yeah, that's something that you hope that you don't have to do. We'll see if and when they do adjust that for inflation. I'm not always talked about property tax bill. Why don't we open it up somewhat more and talk more about what we discussed the last time you were here on the show with us? Well, I think we already learned then whether Americans, just over time, over the long term, are more likely taxed or more heavily taxed.
Keith Weinhold (00:27:24) - It seems like they're always piling on more and more taxes. What are your thoughts with where we're going on lighter taxation or heavier taxation? I said, well, we rarely get taxed less. We're actually taxed less than just about any other country. Just to be clear, we pay a lower share of our income in taxes than just about any other country. But of course, we have much, many fewer benefits. We don't have national health care. We have Social Security, but it's a small amount, right. In France, remember, they had these big protests, right? Because the French president raised the retirement age from 62 to 64. Why were so many people protesting that? Well, it's because in France the salaries aren't enough to keep up. And so they're relying on that. They can't save up and say, I'm going to retire earlier because I've saved up money. There's not enough income for them to save. So they're relying on the government to save for them. That was a hard thing for them.
Keith Weinhold (00:28:18) - We have a hard time understanding that in the US because our tax rates are so much lower. France, for example, I was. Reading. That's the other day. 50% of GDP goes to taxes in France. In the US it's about 26% of GDP. So we're almost half of what percentage of our GDP goes to taxes. So they're the highest. What's happening is you're seeing Germany. There's this going up Korea. Theirs has gone up, Japan theirs has gone up. And the US, they expect ours to be up. It's 28% of GDP within a few years. So it's all relative, right. The problem is, is that the taxes are more and more as a proportion of our gross domestic product. If you think the government should stay out of our lives, then you're on the wrong end of that stick, because that means that the government's getting more and more involved, and more and more money is being spent by the government instead of the private sector. Well, Tom, you've been here on the show with us a lot of times.
Keith Weinhold (00:29:16) - We've talked about how your rental income gets taxed. We've talked about capital gains tax and property tax and sales tax and income tax, one tax type we haven't talked about. When we think about whether things just get worse as the government piles on more taxes, is there any threat in your mind of a tax for those that don't know what that is? That's basically a head tax. That's a tax that's imposed on you just for existing. Is that a possibility? Zionist capitation tax and not a decapitation tax. It might feel like one. Yeah. It's, uh, commonly called the poll tax write poll. As in poll. You go to the polls that the number of people that is actually allowed, the government could impose that that is allowed under a constitution, a poll tax. Great Britain has a poll tax. So it's not unheard of. I haven't heard a lot of people talk about. The problem is, is that a poll tax is a tax on voters. And we know politicians don't want to put a tax on voters.
Keith Weinhold (00:30:16) - Right. So where's the incentive to vote? They're more likely to put a tax on corporations who don't vote. I'll tell you the favourite tax. The favourite tax is to put a tax on out-of-towners. Somebody who's coming into your place like a travel tax. One of the key policy points of any tax unit is you want to export your tax to people who don't vote for you. So you're always trying to put the tax on somebody who doesn't can't vote for you. Because if you put on people who do vote for you, you will soon lose your job. Interesting point. That's why you see taxes on Ubers and taxis and hotels, resort taxes. You see those kind of tax skills are basically export tax, right? They're taxing people who don't live and vote in your state or in your location. A poll tax would be a tax on people who do live in your state or location. I have a hard time seeing that one coming down the line. More likely is you really wanted us to be more competitive with the rest of the world.
Keith Weinhold (00:31:17) - We'd have a value added tax in the United States, we do not have one. And if you wanted to make us more competitive with the rest of the world, if you really want to raise funds or you want to pay off the deficit, or you want to get rid of an income tax, the best way to do it would be a value added tax. Well, maybe you, the listener, just have a shred of a little something to be thankful for. There are tax types you've heard of that we don't actually have yet. There actually are some remaining. It seems like they'll all get used up. Europe has a. Europe uniformly has a 20% value added tax that just goes to increases the price of your meals at a restaurant, increases the price of every product you buy. That's a value added tax. That's a national sales tax that is common in the rest of the world. We're the only major developed country that doesn't have one. Well, at least in Europe, they're not asking that.
Keith Weinhold (00:32:06) - When you get your restaurant meal bill that you add a tip onto the tax about, like what's happening a lot of times here. And I think a lot of people aren't even aware of that. That's another absurdity. Yeah. Another absurdity of being a consumer in the United States today. Tom, you're really an expert in helping people understand that there are so many parts of the tax code out there for reducing one's taxes. The tax code, mostly most of the pages are about tax reduction. There are just a few pages about the tax tables. And then basically the rest of the tax code says you have to pay the tax in those tables if you don't do these other things. So tell us more about how one and everyday people can learn and get informed by being matched up with the right professional, so they can learn about all those exceptions to paying those taxes in the tables. I appreciate your promotion of tax free wealth because that's the starting point. You really do need to understand the concepts, and the concepts are all in tax free wealth.
Keith Weinhold (00:33:00) - Okay, so really inexpensive way for you to get an education. Once you've got the education though, you do need a team around you. And what I think the most important person, well outside of your bookkeeper, who I actually think is the most important person of that team, I think your number two person is your CPA. And I'm going to be very specific. There are a lot of people who hold themselves out as tax advisors, and I would not touch them with a ten foot pole. Whether it's I don't want a financial planner giving me tax advice, nor do I want a CPA, give me financial advice. Let's have a specialist do the specialist work. I don't want an enrolled agent. And the reason I don't want enrolled agent. If I'm really simple, that's great. But remember enrolled agent, they have very little education. They took a test. An IRS test that takes a couple of hours. That's all they did. If you're a business owner, you're a serious investor. You need a CPA and you need a CPA who cares more about you than they do about protecting themselves from the IRS.
Keith Weinhold (00:33:59) - This is one of my big complaints about some of my fellow CPAs is they seem to be so concerned about an audit. And my question is, if you're so concerned about an audit, does that mean you're afraid of the IRS? And if your CPA is afraid of the IRS, it's probably time to get a new CPA. That's right. Well, please, I tell you, we have a resource on our website where you can connect with Tom's team and get messed up with the right advisor. That is it. Get rich education complex. But like Tom said, a good thing to do is read his book, Tax Free Wealth first. That way you'll be able to ask the right questions so you can get the right answers from the right professional that you can be messed up with. Tom, do you have any last thoughts? Here is we're still relatively new in a year here when it comes to taxation, and one taking their plans forward through the year. Let's remember that we have an election coming up this year.
Keith Weinhold (00:34:54) - And one of the biggest issues in this election is going to be taxation. There's certain politicians that would like to take the 2017 tax reductions and extend them. There are others that would like to eliminate them and actually raise taxes. A couple of years ago, we had a proposal called Build Back Better. Great. Started as a $6 trillion proposal and ended up being $2 trillion and change the name to, quote unquote, the Inflation Reduction Act, or as I like to call it, the Inflation Enhancement Act. But that's going to be back. So you may love one party. You may hate the other party. Just know that when you go to vote, think about you are voting for a tax increase or a tax decrease depending on who you vote for. Look at their policies. Look at what they propose. Look at what they've been talking about. Don't believe for a second that they're gonna all of a sudden say, well, we're not going to raise taxes, when in fact they're looking at you and they're going, is that my money in your pocket? It is a presidential election year.
Keith Weinhold (00:35:59) - The good news is you now have a way for your voice to be heard this year in taxes are part of that, Tom. We're right. It's a great having you back on the show. Thanks, Keith. Sometimes I hear people that pay property tax but yet don't have any children themselves. They say that, well, since property tax often funds schools that they're opposed to paying it. Well, let's look at it this way. I'm a person that doesn't have any kids yet. And even if I never do have kids, well, when I was a kid myself, I attended public school. So therefore I was the beneficiary of adults paying property tax to fund the school that I went to. So therefore, when you think of it in those terms, it's more palatable for a, I suppose, non father like me to pay it forward, pass it along and pay school tax for others. So though there may be other objections to paying property taxes, not having children, that's often not such a valid reason when you think about it that way.
Keith Weinhold (00:37:07) - Now, I think that the Liberty First Society's Christian Hall, she has an interesting take on property tax. Here's what she said. And I quote, property tax should end when you complete the sale or purchase, just like you do when you buy groceries or a bicycle. It's theft of ownership to keep paying property taxes, especially when government has the authority to take your property. When you don't pay your taxes for three years. That's not property tax, that's rent, and you're a tenant in your own home. Property tax makes government the owner of your property, not you. End quote. And again, that is from the Liberty First Society's Chris Ian Hall, thought provoking, if nothing else. Now, when it comes to finding the right professional to get real estate investors, all of our generous and legitimate deductions that we enjoy, I mean, it is one of the five ways real estate pays. After all, you do need to find the right pro so that they can find all the deductions for you.
Keith Weinhold (00:38:13) - And this is just the time of year to get that right. For more than ten years now, I have had the world's number one tax firm do my wealth strategy, my tax strategy and my tax preparation. I even use my bookkeeper through them. They understand what real estate investors need. They make sure that I don't miss out on optimizing benefits and deductions for mortgage interest and tax depreciation and property tax and cost segregation, which accelerates my deductions. And they make sure I get infinite capital gains tax deferrals and bonus depreciation and so much more. All the good things that real estate investors get when you work with an investor centric tax professional. In this way, you can also legally write off many of your expenses for property management and maintenance and utilities and even your travel. So you can do that by connecting with Tom's team by visiting get rich education.com/tax. That is this week's actionable resource. Until next week I'm your host Keith White. Hold don't quit your day dream.
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