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George Monbiot suggests taxing empty bedrooms

Started by BabylonHoruv, January 04, 2011, 10:43:12 PM

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BabylonHoruv

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/jan/04/take-housing-fight-wealthy

I thought this looked like a rather radical approach,  he makes some good points but I can't imagine it going over well.
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Requia ☣

So.. we're going to up people's taxes when their kids move out and they get ready to retire?  Seems like bad timing.
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BabylonHoruv

Quote from: Requia ☣ on January 05, 2011, 12:01:51 AM
So.. we're going to up people's taxes when their kids move out and they get ready to retire?  Seems like bad timing.

I think the point was to encourage people to rent out the rooms that previously had kids in them.

I still don't know how I feel about it, but having renters would certainly help with retirement income for empty nesters.
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Merely by being alive, you make everyone just a little more miserable

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Telarus

And really, what does it take to turn a "bedroom" into an "office"? Some highspeed internet cable and making the door lock?
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Fujikoma

I can see nothing but misery and woe resulting from such a law...

Still, they already let the government in their homes to inspect their televisions, not such a big leap now, is it? Do the kitchen, dining area, living room, do those rooms count as spare rooms? What happens if they cannot afford the taxes, yet can't find responsible tenets to dwell in the family home? Do they take in drug crazed street ruffians? The only good thing I can think about it is, it'll make the damned banks think long and hard about whether they really want to foreclose on a property.

Let them pitch tents. :lulz:

the last yatto

#7
Quote from: Charley Brown on January 04, 2011, 11:11:42 PM
Quote from: Able on January 04, 2011, 11:04:27 PM
8 million homes under used is a lot

Yes, Comrade.

There are a total of 84,900 households (which may contain more than one person) that are classified as homeless.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homelessness_in_England


Quote from: Telarus on January 05, 2011, 12:21:15 AM
And really, what does it take to turn a "bedroom" into an "office"? Some highspeed internet cable and making the door lock?

you mean loopholes allowing one+ bedroom to be converted to home offices
i can see that as well as not counting real estate companies (who own property then rent/lease),
or simply only counting it as a bedroom if it has a door
Look, asshole:  Your 'incomprehensible' act, your word-salad, your pinealism...It BORES ME.  I've been incomprehensible for so long, I TEACH IT TO MBA CANDIDATES.  So if you simply MUST talk about your pineal gland or happy children dancing in the wildflowers, go talk to Roger, because he digs that kind of shit

the last yatto

Look, asshole:  Your 'incomprehensible' act, your word-salad, your pinealism...It BORES ME.  I've been incomprehensible for so long, I TEACH IT TO MBA CANDIDATES.  So if you simply MUST talk about your pineal gland or happy children dancing in the wildflowers, go talk to Roger, because he digs that kind of shit

Requia ☣

Taxing spare bedrooms doesn't help the homeless problem in any way shape or form.
Inflatable dolls are not recognized flotation devices.

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Cain

George Monbiot is an idiot, and this is but the latest in a string of really stupid articles from him lately.

His last, for example, was stating the snow this winter was proof of climate change when, in January, he was claiming the exact opposite...with exactly the same weather conditions.

The thing is, apart from huge country estates, most of the people who are going to be "under-occupying" a place are the elderly, because their partner has died and their children have moved out.  Forcing OAPs to live with strange people or taxing them even further, what could possibly go wrong with that plan?

Reginald Ret

Good things can come from this.
Unused bedrooms get taxed.
Bedrooms get converted to offices.
Offices automatically get included under this law.
Vacant Office buildings will get taxed.
All vacant offices will be converted to really really cheap bedrooms.
Everybody who wants it gets a place to live for dirt cheap and the housing market crashes again.
Terrorists can't believe what's happening and give up on trying to attack America because they will never be able to outdo the Americans.

See? this new tax helps fight terrorists!
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hooplala

More needling into the private lives of citizens.

Yes, this is exactly what we need more of.  Pass the Victory Gin.
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Suu

WTF is England's obsession with taxes?

I mean, really...You lost America partly because of taxation. You have the fucking Magna Carta because of King John who was obsessed with taxes...

I now have the theme song from Disney's Robin Hood in my head...

KNOCK IT OFF.

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