digg

Join DiggAbout

Digg Townhall Tonight!
Tune into the live Digg townhall tonight at 5:00pm PST/8:00pm EST.

Extreme Makeover Family May lose house..... to taxes...

freep.com — The Llanes Family has been through many trials over the last few years... with a blind father and daughter, and a deaf son life is interesting to say the least... but with an extreme make-over of their house. life was made much easier for the family... until now... all the "good" ABC did will be gone

show profanity settings
expand all
  • joeblough2005, on 11/05/2007, -3/+64I have often wondered what would happen to the property taxes after Extreme Makeover blows through town. I'm surprised this is the first I have ever heard of it. However, since the house is often paid in full, just covering the property tax shouldn't be too much of a burden.
    • manoftheisland, on 11/05/2007, -13/+45it is a great burden if you are on a fixed income and have 2 deaf children and a blind mother and a wife with breast cancer while you are blind yourself..... if ABC wants to roll into town and act like they are out for more then good ratings then put your money where you mouth is and pay for these people's taxes (at least upto the amount they had to on the last house)

      if the taxes before werent that much of a burden dont you think they would have just paid to fix the house themselves? obviously if they had to submit to ABC's makeover show then they didnt have any money
    • uptown, on 10/12/2007, -23/+17Forget about the taxes ... What about the fact that the entire neighborhood now knows that there's 3 new 42" plasma TVs, four new couches, and probably some kind of astronaut-themed bedroom for the taking in what's usually not the best of neighborhoods. Extreme Makeover Home Edition is like QVC for thieves to case the joint.
    • wild, on 11/05/2007, -3/+98FTA: "Some state lawmakers are trying to calm the family's fears through a proposed law that would permit short-term tax exemptions for homes that were renovated for disabled residents by charitable groups. Measures have been introduced in the Senate and Assembly, and the sponsors are hoping for approval this year."

      Its not all doom and gloom. The right people are trying to help them. And seriously, do you want to be the guy repsonsible for preventing a disabled family from benefiting from charity.
    • pdawg90, on 11/05/2007, -2/+76Me too. And I've wondered what happens when the seven-year-olds get tired of their dinosaur bedrooms.
    • Pile, on 11/05/2007, -26/+95"Before the makeover, a small split-level with faulty plumbing and steep stairways was home to the family -- Vic; his wife Maria, who has thyroid cancer now in remission; their 16-year-old deaf son Zeb; their two nearly blind daughters, Guen, 20, and Carrie, 13; and Vic's blind mother, Isabel."

      Damn.... talk about bad genes! They should give these people a tax credit if they agree to be sterilized.


    • SillyRabbits, on 10/12/2007, -37/+16Wow, they are people already getting a break with tax credits paid for by my tax dollars, and instead of living within those means they want the government to subsidize their lifestyle even more. As the stories says, they knew the tax risks going into it, but decided to ignore them. I guess they've already demonstrated themselves not to be good decision makers. Maybe I'm harsh, but I say screw them. They are getting enough breaks, how about some breaks for every other hard worker that has to deal with high taxes?
    • wuxia, on 10/12/2007, -6/+17The should have gotten a lawyer to form a non-profit corp and transferred ownership of the house to it. People are poor for a reason.
    • Hush, on 10/12/2007, -3/+14sillyrabbits, there but for the grace go you.

      Instead of paying the welfare moms to stay home and pop out more dependents, that money should go to this cause instead.
    • OnlyShawn, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5man...i wish they had property tax homestead exemption like we do in florida...your home value can only go up a very incremental percentage every year from the previous year.

      A bit more important here, where a lot of our residents are retiree's on fixed incomes; if they happen to live in a brand-new trendy neighborhood they'd get screwed if their property value doubled in a year.
    • GezusK, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1That's what I would think. Take the money you would be using for house payment or rent, and use it for taxes.
    • JrGhoull, on 10/12/2007, -4/+1@SIllyrabbits

      how much do u think the gov is giving em? they were not living some posh lifestyle, in fact they were living in a place that didnt even have good plumbing (never saw the ep in question but from the sound of it it was worse than the average house) do they need the big screen tvs and blah blah blah? not really (though i'm sure for the people in the family who can see, it will be nice imporvement for...maybe even the blind kids will enjoy it a bit since they can still probably see a little bit) but the majority of the stuff, including the house itself, were pretty nessecary. Because now they have a brand new, sturdy, well built house that they dont need to worry about, at least not nearly as much as their other one needed, and now they will be able to do w/e they need to do far easier now thanks to all the special accomodations. With all the money that abc put into the new house...you'd think they would've figured out some sort of permenent solution to at least helping the people keep their houses. they say that they told the people about the possible tax hike, i dont know how hard they worked to make sure the people knew it...but even if they did, you think someone with a terrible house and all the problems in the world is going to be thinkin about taxes when you are waving a solution to many problems in front of their faces for free. legally they may look okay...but the more houses they do like this and the more it backfires the worse abc is going to look...you can only use the "but we told them ahead of time" line so much before people get tired of it and want a better solution from them if the gov tax exempt plan doesnt work out (odds are it will though). I am glad that some disabled people are getting help like this...but if companies like abc keep exploiting people, and keep gettin greedier and greedier for ratings..willing to do w/e it takes to get higher ratings...then at some point i think they are going to wind up doing something that will hurt them very very badly, and will make them seem as cold hearted as they really are.
    • jetsetgo, on 10/12/2007, -1/+16@PDawg90

      Who would get tired of a Dinosaur bedroom?
    • fatdog789, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4"If taxes were not a burden, they would have just paid to fix the house themselves."

      You must not pay taxes. It usually costs *much* more to fix a house or physical structure than the taxes associated with the property, unless you live in very pricey areas where the property (ie, land) is worth significantly more than the value of the structures built upon it.
    • BrotherLuigi, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4
      Pinnacle Foundation, a charity founded by The Pinnacle Cos., a real estate developer, has raised more than $100,000 for the family.
      Llanes said he has no reservations about the new home other than the taxes.
      "Taxes have been the ghost of my life," Llanes said. "Minus the tax, everything would be fully, fully, fully great."


      So let me get this straight, minus $9,000 (the increase in your taxes) everything would be fully fully fully fully great? I got an idea, use that $100,000 to pay your taxes, and for the next 11 years everything would be fully fully fully fully great!
    • manoftheisland, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3@fatdog...
      obviously living in NJ the property value is rediculous and putting a large home on it has boosted the taxes mucho grande.... when i saw the show with these people i figured ABC would do something to help them out... but nope ABC was in it for good ratings.
    • saci68, on 10/12/2007, -5/+4Oh GIVE ME A BREAK!!........ Hasn't anyone heard of Home Equity Loans or Refinancing? They have AT LEAST $300,000 equity! They could EASILY get a loan and pay this off... this is just ridiculous!!... Even if they couldn't get a loan (which is EXTREMELY unlikely with that amount of equity) they could still sell and make a tidy profit!!!
    • elroy, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4So, sell the house, get a smaller home, pocket the profit. Or borrow against the equity of the fully-paid-for home you're living in.

      I really hate seeing these "how will i handle the financial burden of a bunch of free wealth" stories... People were bitching when Oprah gave them free cars, too. It's a net gain in your wealth, for doing NOTHING. It can't be that hard to turn it to your favor.
    • rickcarson, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9Sidenote for people not from the wacky hilarity that is the states:

      In the US property taxes are controlled at a local (state) level rather than at a national (federal) level. Property taxes are used to pay for local services, specifically: Police and Fire Departments and local Schools. (All of which, I hear, are good things to have)

      _Normally_ property taxes are just about the fairest form of taxation there is.

      However there are some aberrations.
      For instance in California they changed the rules so that the property taxes were based on the _current_ value of the property, not the value of the property when you bought it. Which meant that elderly widows who'd lived in the same house for 40+ years were now suddenly called on to pay more each year in taxes than they had paid for the house in the first place. Gotta love a system that throws 80 year old widows out onto the street.

      Getting people to pay their property taxes can be a problem too. In California alone the last time I looked there was over 1 billion (with a b and 9 zeroes) in unpaid taxes, which directly contributes to the fiscal crisis that California has had in the last couple of years, and which led to the previous governor getting thrown out on his chuff and Arnie the guvernator taking the reins of power away from the girly men.

      Here endeth the modern history lesson for the day.
    • fireandice, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6@elroy2

      Their home is NOT fully paid for. The $100,000 will pay for their mortgage for the next 5 years...which obviously means the family HAS a loan already on that house.

    • DocNo, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3"but it is up to us in a democratic society to change who "Caesar" is and what he does. If we don't approve of his policies, then we need to vote to change it."

      As long as you are ready to give up all your government entitlements that politicians use to try to buy votes.

      What? Didn't think so :p

      And the circle continues....
    • Pezza131214, on 10/12/2007, -3/+11. Sell home
      2. Pocket equity
      3. ????????
      4. PROFIT!!!
    • crashflow, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3@wild
      "And seriously, do you want to be the guy repsonsible for preventing a disabled family from benefiting from charity."

      correction:
      "And seriously, do you want to be the POLITICIAN responsible for preventing a disabled family from benefiting from charity?"
    • triad203, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Even if ABC were to cover the property tax, wouldn't that then become taxable income?
  • LoneRanger85, on 10/12/2007, -11/+44This is why tax collectors were hated even in the Bible. I don't know where politicians get the idea they should tax every human activity. And I don't understand why taxpayers think they have to put up with it. Vote for tax cutters!
    • sigintop, on 10/12/2007, -9/+23You make it sound like EVERYONE in the bible hated tax collectors. I mean, didn't Jesus eat and befriend tax collectors?

      To be honest, I don't mind paying taxes, even a lot of taxes if I knew that it was going to something worthwhile. Like that road that never gets fixed.
    • Pile, on 10/12/2007, -5/+15Jesus says in the bible you should pay your taxes, so he didn't have that much of a problem with them... ""Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's.."
    • Cymsdale, on 10/12/2007, -3/+102"didn't Jesus eat and befriend tax collectors?"

      Jesus was a cannibal?
    • Chode2235, on 10/12/2007, -7/+29Of course he was a cannibal. "Take this bread and eat it, it is my body which will be given up for you. Take this cup and drink from it, it is my blood" etc etc.
    • Tallon29, on 10/12/2007, -9/+20Jesus ATE tax collectors? Awesome!
    • jgreene777, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4@pile - but it is up to us in a democratic society to change who "Caesar" is and what he does. If we don't approve of his policies, then we need to vote to change it.
    • Salmar, on 10/12/2007, -11/+1@Pile

      It sure wasn't Jesus that wrote that part of the bible. Me thinks Caesar himself might have had something to do with that rewrite.
    • tdogg241, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3Jesus ate his tax-collecting friends?

      Christianity just became infinitely more interesting to me.
    • Canthros, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8IIRC, tax collectors in the Biblical era had a reputation for being corrupt. They'd collect a certain amount for Caesar, and then a little more to compensate themselves.
    • MysticSavage, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7Jesus eats tax collectors, Jack Bauer eats terrorists...circle of life.
    • JrGhoull, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1@sigintop

      you should mind paying taxes to the extent that people with millions of dollars are paying nothing, even getting loads of money back, while poor people with nothing are individually paying thousands. taxes are good to the extent that they are important, and while i believe that all systems require some amount of currutpion in order to function, the level we are at is much higher than needed.
    • 2tonshoes, on 10/12/2007, -3/+6"didn't Jesus eat and befriend tax collectors?"

      You are sooooooo wrong.



      ....he befriended them THEN ate them.
    • cualcrees, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1@sigintop
      I SO wanna read YOUR bible!! :)
    • sigintop, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Haha. Yep. Talk about a bad typo! :P
  • foobar5892, on 10/12/2007, -15/+2Not world news. US != world.
    • manoftheisland, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4wasnt sure where else to put it... not really anyother good section for it... unless im blind
    • chris9902, on 10/12/2007, -1/+14US = world (if you don't live there)
    • mikedpirone, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6Considering this family lives in a town next to mine, this would be local news to me, so by your logic:
      local news != US news != world news.
      Just because you are in the US doesn't mean there aren't people from other countries reading this which makes it world news to them.
    • lovek, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5By that logic there isn't any world news. At least not until the time that our alien overlords come (And I for one will welcome them).
    • foobar5892, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2This is local or at best general news. Not world news. The events reported on do not affect the world at large.
  • petroK, on 10/12/2007, -16/+8Solution: Sell house, buy something you can afford, and stop looking a gift horse in the mouth.

    I mean I'm all about charity, but for cripes sake, their house more than doubled in value. Buy a house just big enough, and more sound than the house was before extreme makeover, than you have a couple hundred grand in your pocket... I wouldn't bitch about a quarter million falling in my lap.

    Is that cruel? Maybe, but that's how life works. They are lucky they don't have to pay taxes to the IRS for the "leaseholder" improvements. That would be tons worse than property taxes.
    • mrmcbastard, on 10/12/2007, -2/+14Yeah, sell the house, then pay taxes on the money you receive for it, and you'll have enough money left over to buy a really nice shack!

      The problem isn't the people or show. The problem is the taxes.
    • SillyRabbits, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6@mrmcbastard

      While I agree that these people created their own problems and the US tax system has some big problems....it won't affect them. According to current US tax code, if they've owned the home for more than 3 years any profit on increased value is considered tax free income. They wouldn't have any taxes to pay if they sold the home. Since it's clearly out of their means to maintain it, that's exactly what they should do. Of course they seem more like the type of family that likes to publicly complain about how rough they have it and expect people to come bail them out of their problems (by relying on the sympathy of other people).
    • petroK, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1nvm...sillyrabbits said what I was going to say more or less.

      If a quarter mill landed in my lap, I wouldn't bitch about paying taxes on it...
    • oriolesfan, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Whatever happened to owning private property in this country?
    • thespottedelf, on 10/12/2007, -2/+0this house was made to help them with their disabilities
  • baalzebub, on 11/05/2007, -6/+8Taxes?! Taxes!!! We don't need no stinkin' taxes!!!
  • mr.hostility, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7It's nice what they do for poor people, but they all don't need mega houses with 10,000sqft of space. You could cut that in half and help 2 families instead.

    With no mortgage, and you can't afford to even pay taxes of $14,000...maybe it's time to sell the house and move to trailer.
    • panicofficer, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3$14000 is a lot. In fact, it's more than many people's yearly mortgage. Maybe they should move from New Jersey. I live in SC and taxes aren't bad here.
    • negativefx, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5yeah, moving to new jersey would solve all of their problems...
    • hobbers, on 10/12/2007, -5/+8The real question here is why aren't there laws to keep people like this from reproducing?

      "Before the makeover, a small split-level with faulty plumbing and steep stairways was home to the family -- Vic; his wife Maria, who has thyroid cancer now in remission; their 16-year-old deaf son Zeb; their two nearly blind daughters, Guen, 20, and Carrie, 13; and Vic's blind mother, Isabel."

      I mean, these people obviously have a bad combination of genes ... out in the wild some bear or a pride of lions would have picked them off already.
    • sanza, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3@ Hobbers

      In this case the taxes would be the lions....
    • siszam, on 10/12/2007, -4/+4Hobbers,

      The family has physical disabilities but you have a character disability. Disabilities are fairly common. Do you want all disabled, imperfect people gathered up and slaughtered? You are not better than Hitler.

      By your reasoning if you have a child with ADD or one that needs glasses you would kill it and try for a perfect child. Maybe if you lost a limb in an accident you would be put to death. Are you parents physically and mentally perfect? If not, then you must think they should have been sterilized before you were conceived.

      I think people like you shouldn't exist. Where do we draw the line?
    • siszam, on 10/12/2007, -4/+3bury
    • AriaStar, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1$14,000/year would be like adding a monthly bill of over $1,000 to any of our budgets. Even if they took out some equity to pay this, they'd have to get that paid back somehow, but with interest. If they can't afford to keep up the payments, they have to take out more and more every year. Eventually they will still sink.
  • stanleyf, on 10/12/2007, -27/+4if you have a 500,000$ luxury home, you have to pay taxes. This is just a fact of life.
    The fact that they 'cheated' by having someone else pay for all the renovations is no excuse.
    The same thing happened when Oprah gave out free cars to everyone in the audience, they had to pay the tax on them.

    http://stanleyf.blogspot.com/
    • scelestus, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7Nice spam for your blog stanleyf. The last guy to do that got nailed by the Hammer of Dawn.

      From your blog:
      "share your non-profit blogs with other digg users, but beware of the trolls who will digg you down! Digg often posts links to commercial blogs, but shuns the typical users who want to promote their work. Post your blog links in every digg comment. it's time to stand up to the trolls who think they know what's best for everyone!"

      You are being dugg down for spamming the comments not for submitting a blog post as a STORY.
    • profOblivion, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2@stanleyf

      From your own comment on your "blog":
      "I don't know what you mean by 'drop the act', but I can tell you I do want to stand up to the self-righteous drones on certain tech websites and introduce them to my high developed style of opinion piece."

      What was this about being self-righteous?
  • meatwad2567, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Wow, sucks for that family. I always wondered how the tax thing was handled when they finish the new homes. Now I see.
  • mikeyj10, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3It's still kind of nice to see that state legislatures are trying to respond to this problem.
  • chefsam, on 10/12/2007, -2/+0$14K in taxes is (annually) the equivalent of paying for a $175,000 thirty year mortgage at 7%. I would submit that a great many Americans would find this difficult.

    The whole story is just a shame, but proves that NOWHERE do you get something for nothing.
  • jlebrech, on 10/12/2007, -10/+1Hi this is the IRS,

    You owe use $50,000 for your face.

    Pay before the 30th of this month or you will Face repossession.

    Oh sorry a house makeover, I didnt read the article.
  • bitbucket66, on 10/12/2007, -3/+6Most taxes are ridiculously overzealous. The IRS would levy taxes on your tax refund check if they could get away with it.
    • fangorious, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Your refund in 2005 is from the income you already reported for 2004, it was erroneously withheld in 2004. So it isn't income for 2005, so it isn't taxed.
  • opieum, on 10/12/2007, -5/+0@petroK dugg down for being an *****. You clearly did not read the article or you would have seen the situation those people are in. Moving in itself is a costly venture too. And it has the potential of putting them in an even worse situation than the one they are in now.
    • petroK, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6(reply?)
      yeah...I read the article. They got a quarter million dollars in their lap and are complaining about paying taxes on the property. Sure they are in a tough spot. I'm in a tough spot. If I got a quarter million dollars of charity, though, I would be thankful. I might bitch about paying more taxes, but I wouldn't expect all the other taxpayers in my city to pick up my tab. Taxes suck, but you have to pay them even if you have cancer and have blind kids. I'm sorry. If you take a gift, you assume responsibility for the gift... that is how it works.
    • Schmecky, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1@petroK:

      They weren't given a quarter of a million dollars. They were given a home that was lovingly built specifically for their family -- a home that was meant to help them with their various disabilities, a new home that replaces their old one that was torn down on that very spot. ABC broadcast the story of how they put all this work into making this house for this family with their various health issues. The show and the network have made a big deal about how they do all this work helping people in need. Of course, nobody expects them to sell their house because they can't afford the taxes. It's incredibly duplicitous for ABC to make a big deal about creating a wonderful house for a disadvantaged family to live in if that family can't actually afford to live there and keep the house after they're through with it.
    • petroK, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1but that's the thing... You're saying its duplicitous of ABC to help someone with 250k+ worth of home improvements because now their taxes are too high. I know the house was created specifically for their needs etc... but maybe they could live in a house not quite so big and luxurious, that still accommodates their needs that they can afford when its time to pay taxes. Maybe ABC should take that into account in the first place... I don't know. I'm pretty sure the show is not a non-profit. It's a very touching concept, but there are expenses to living in a luxury home. If one isn't comfortable with those expenses, they should rethink whether or how they accept the gift.

      Let's go to the Oprah thing. If I was given a car that I couldn't afford the taxes for, my first thing wouldn't be... "How could you do this to me, now I don't have enough money for my taxes" It would be "crap, guess I gotta sell this car and buy a slightly cheaper one with that money that I can afford the upkeep/taxes/insurance on."

      I don't think its right to call down the city gov't or ABC for "slighting" the recipients of this type of "charity" (which is really advertisement as much as anything else), much less expecting the entire community to pick up the slack for their inability to pay property taxes. They already avoided paying income tax on the gifts themselves (as they are considered improvements by the leasers...ABC... to the IRS) Making a special law for these folks' property taxes isn't right. They still are in a better position than they were before Extreme Makeover the taxman didn't make a charity case out of them any more before the extreme makeover, why should he now that they are better off than they were before?

      I'm sure if folks came up with money to help them with the property taxes, someone would complain about having to pay income taxes on that... THE MAN will get his piece coming or going and usually both ways.

      Life's Not Fair. Taxes Suck.
  • dshewmaker, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I just mentioned that this could actually hurt a family if they couldn't pay the taxes to my wife last night when she was watching.

    To bad, it is good to see that people don't want this to happen.
  • rysar, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2"Pinnacle Foundation, a charity founded by The Pinnacle Cos., a real estate developer, has raised more than $100,000 for the family. The money will pay the mortgage for five years and will be used for medical, educational and other expenses."

    Other expenses.... like... taxes?

    Good to have an exemption coming to the books, but pay the increased taxes now, fight afterwards.
  • jgreene777, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7It is kind of the fault of the surrounding community for not pitching in more than enough to get some free airtime. Every time ABC blows into a town to do this, they contact as many large companies and families in the area as they can to raise cash for helping the families deal with taxes.The family also gets about $5000 per DAY from the studio while they are working on the house. That's 35k, just for a week and sometimes it takes 9 or 10 days to finish the job (regardless of what they say on the show.) Some fancy management and investment of the cash could stave off any tax burdens for a while. I guarantee that ABC set up a fund at a local bank for the family. If anyone is so inclined, you can check out their bio on ABC's site and send some money to the family.
    • CorpT, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6There's always someone else to blame, isn't there?
    • SillyRabbits, on 10/12/2007, -5/+4Why would I send even more of my money to help a family pay for a half million dollar home they can't afford? Outside of the East and West coast, very few families in the US have half million dollar homes. Why can't they simply downsize to a quarter million dollar home that is within their means? Just like millions of other people in the US have to. It's not like the next step down for them is living in a car. I mean gosh, I just can't make the payments on my 45 foot sailboat, but I don't want to downsize to the 30 foot one I can actually afford....boo hoo....please send me money.
  • Buckeye70, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3It's called living in the state with the highest property taxes.

    http://www.nextag.com/home-mortgage/0/New-Jersey-Has-Highest-Property-Taxes-in-the-Nation.html

    14,000 a year in taxes is 1167/month. About the same has my house payment on a nice house with taxes included in South Carolina. No wonder I do not live in NJ.

    • dime, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2It's also called having access to higher income. The average citizen in New Jersey makes 15k more than the average citizen in South Carolina.

      Source: http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0104652.html
    • SillyRabbits, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@dime

      Do you not realize what you're saying is that NJ gets hit by a double whammy in that case? Not only do they have higher tax revenue from the larger tax base (higher average salaries), they are also taxing it at a higher rate. Of course, it never seems to be enough..... And some people wonder why companies are moving away from the larger cities.
    • Buckeye70, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Hmmn 15,000 more a year income for people in NJ. And just the property tax alone is 14,000 (about 12,000 more that mine), Not thanks. Plus you add the cost of living difference. No thanks
    • Buckeye70, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0With the mentioned property tax of 14,000. NJ costs more than the difference of 15,000 a year between it and SC.
  • MrNeuron, on 10/12/2007, -5/+7To all the anti-tax people, what in god's name are you thinking? You bitch and you whine about taxes taking all your money for no reason and it not being fair to poor people. The United States, and The World couldn't function if it wasn't for taxes. Public schools would disappear, and with them literacy rates. Roads and Highways would fall into disarray and render 80% of your cars useless. Government officials would not be paid, so say goodbye to a military, a congress, a judicial system, police, firefighters, a postal service, prisons, or hundreds of other things that a country needs to function. But why do we have to pay for our houses? It's for one thing, a good way of taxing the rich instead of the poor. The government pays for all sorts of services for your house, as well. Yes, these people were dealt a bad hand, and it sucks to have to pay 15,000 a year. But, you asked for it. To expect ABC to pay for the taxes is ridiculous, although it would be the nice thing to do. If you can't afford the taxes, sell one of your giant flat screen TVs, that no one in your house can watch, except a deaf person.
    • bitbucket66, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4I agree with you for the most part. Of course a lot of government services are necessary for society to function. On the other hand, though, I think a lot of services could be privatized and would end up being less costly for the end users. Most Americans have to pay for services that they never even use because they are funded by tax dollars, and I think that's unfair.
    • thall, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5"Public schools would disappear, and with them literacy rates. Roads and Highways would fall into disarray and render 80% of your cars useless. Government officials would not be paid, so say goodbye to a military, a congress, a judicial system, police, firefighters, a postal service, prisons, or hundreds of other things that a country needs to function. But why do we have to pay for our houses? It's for one thing, a good way of taxing the rich instead of the poor. The government pays for all sorts of services for your house, as well."

      All you're doing is identifying how communities that use those services benefit through a tax system, it's true that's more efficient for a community to use a tax system to pay for those public services, but you've ignored the crucial point of which individuals should pay how much of their money into that system. Overall I think the math behind the current tax system is screwed up, and favors the scammers over the workers. If you control money the right way, you get what you want and avoid paying into the tax system at the same time. If you don't know what you're doing, you can work your butt off and only get to keep 25% of the reward. The idea of a tax system has merit, but the current one sucks and needs to be rebuilt.

      Ideally I think the tax system should first be based on the pay-for-what-you-use model: Use the roads more than the average person? Paying more for the roads than the average person. Have more kids enrolled in public school than the average family? Then you should be paying more of those costs than the average person. But this should work the other way too: Don't have any kids? Shouldn't *have* to pay into public schools. Don't own a car and just walk everywhere? Should only be paying for the sidewalks and such.

      Practically, though, there's too much overhead cost to track every detail of use, so gov't has to assume some things based on what you own, what you make, where you live, etc.

      Then at a macro level the whole community can better itself by investing additional money in things like universities, and I'd be okay with increasing the taxes for those things...but since it's a broad investment everyone should pay an equal (as in flat) rate into it. Think of it as an annual subscription fee for joining that community.

      However, like a lot of diggers here, I don't agree with the assumptions gov't makes about one's usage of public services based just on the value of one's property. How do you go from $x house value to $y property tax requirement? What formula is that based on? I mean, how much of a burden has this community taken by having this family's house double in value? Additional heating/hydro/water costs are billed directly to the owner, not paid through taxes. The gov't doesn't plow/salt the road in front of the house any more/less because of the house being there. Likely the community will even benefit a little from the addition of a nice looking house.

      In fact, it's more likely that the property value is used only as a clue to the family's income, making it more of a 2nd income tax that ignores the income statements. It assumes that if you have a bigger property, you *must* have made enough money to pay for it and *must* be making enough money to maintain it, therefore you *probably* can afford to pay more into the tax system...so it charges you more tax simply because it's assumed that you can pay more tax. It's fraud.
    • perogi21, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4"It's for one thing, a good way of taxing the rich instead of the poor."

      Hrmm, if I own a house and rent it to someone who cannot afford to own a house, I will increase their rent if my taxes increase on the property.

      Rent = (Owner's mortgage + TAXES + 'a little somethin for the effort')

      ***** always rolls downhill.
    • LloydDobbler, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I think the problem that most people have with taxes is the fact that, quite simply, the system is inefficient.

      John Locke's 2nd Treatise of Government (whose political philosophy was largely the basis for the U.S.'s Declaration of Independence AND the Constitution) makes a very astute point (I'm paraphrasing): One cannot expect a citizen of a country to obey its laws, if the laws are so complex that they cannot be understood.

      Applying that to the tax code, where in order to "fix" it, we add 10,000 pages of additional code...well, criminy. How can you expect this NOT to turn off the average citizen? I mean, I'm a smart guy, and I try to do my own taxes every year, as I think I'll have a much better incentive to get the most out of it, since I'm getting the check (another reason is that I want to see how much more complex it gets for your average Joe (me) from year to year), and good lord, it's become a downright nightmare. I mean, look, even to fix this situation, what do we have to do? We have to make the tax code MORE complex. Which means more inefficient.

      (And this isn't even counting the extra amount of work-hours wasted every year on taxes. Aside from there being an industry devoted to doing something that any person should be able to do her/himself, there's the simple matter that of the X million hours that are spent figuring out tax forms, if that time was spent working, think how much better the economy would be. Or how much better our quality of life would be, if we were able to spend that time relaxing.)

      I have no problem paying my taxes. But I do have a problem when the government goes out of its way to make things difficult (and it usually seems to). In this case, the system is the problem, not the taxes themselves - when you have to make the problem bigger in order to fix it, then something is wrong. You're just digging a bigger hole.

      I'm a big fan of the Fairtax idea, as it eliminates the income tax and introduces a sales tax, so taxes will still be progressive (spend more, pay more); it keeps prices the same by eliminating embedded taxes (whenever you raise taxes on a business, for instance, we all pay for it in prices); it provides protection for the poor in the form of a 'prebate' (the way the IRS's standard deduction does now); it gets rid of the power of Congress to cater to special interest groups (who often lobby for special tax breaks); it eliminates the power of the IRS to wreck lives, no questions asked (we've all heard stories); it makes sure that everyone pays their taxes (including drug dealers, criminals, people here illegally, people being paid under the table, etc); and it saves the ridiculous amount of time you spend each year figuring out the obnoxiously-complex tax code & how it applies to you.

      Like I said, I think the problem is less with the taxes themselves, and more with the frustration of a broken system. (Okay, I'm done pontificating. But seriously, check out the url below - it's worth a read, and it affects all of us).

      http://www.fairtax.org
  • argblat, on 10/12/2007, -2/+9Hmmm... I drove by this house yesterday ... and yes ... I would like a medal
  • kungfoofairy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4"David Goldberg, president of Endemol, the show's production company, countered that contestants are made well aware of the potential tax increase and sign a contract before agreeing to the makeover."

    These people were told their taxes would go up (only an idiot wouldn't be able to figure that one out themselves regardless). Don't take from the rest of us to make up for their poor choices. This would be another totally needless law forcing the redistribution of wealth.
  • gh0st121der, on 10/12/2007, -5/+3I hate EHM.

    Those people dont deserve a new house anymore than any other disabled person.
  • BigCalhoun, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Didn't the same thing happen when Oprah gave away those Pontiac G6s to her in-studio audience? Aren't there some type of disclosure rules with this stuff? I mean it's great and all they fixed up that families house but they now seem to have more problems than what they started with.
  • dime, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Hah! I live in Bergenfield actually. Property taxes in NJ are rediculous to begin with, but Bergen County is especially crazy since it's so close to NYC - I'm almost paying 12k myself for a modest home.

    The house itself isn't that big... the lot looks about 75x75. Now I actually feel even more ripped off, since those folks are only 3k more and live in an amazing home. I tend to think the assessment was outdated, though... I work in public accounting, and I've never seen anyone in the area with taxes lower than 10k. I have a feeling it was scheduled to be reassessed anyway and they would have had a 50% even without the improvements. Hell, the cheapest house in town is about 365k - and it borders on being condemned.

  • everfresh59, on 10/12/2007, -6/+1Wow, the American Gov't decides to shatter a families dream, what a surprise!!
  • zaclohrenz, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1I was always interested in how some of the poor families would pay for things like the taxes, heating/air for a much bigger house, more electric items, etc.
    I guess the answer in this case is, they can't. ABC should offer to at least pay for the majority of the day-to-day costs of owning the house.
  • jeffiek, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Another absurdity of the property tax. In this case the value of the home increased due to charity (from the owner's point of view, ABC is making a buck), but that's not relevant.

    The absurdity is that improving the home, and thereby the neighborhood, results in a penalty!!!! What a wonderful incentive system the government has devised. Pay for the privilege of making the neighborhood better!
    • skeeto, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Ridiculous indeed. Being a first time homeowner myself as of a couple years ago, I always wondered the same thing. In a way it makes sense, but it still seems backwards. I know many people in my town that are well off, but flat out refuse to improve their homes because they know the city will be there with the quickness a month or two later to "re-value" the home and stick them with a higher bill. Hell, I've held off adding new siding and painting the windows, because I've noticed city officials "eyeballing" the place a few times after I added new porch steps, railings and replaced all the windows with energy efficient ones.

      Taxes are already up all around to begin with, so this just puts more of a burden on good folks. People who care enough to fix up their homes and improve the neighborhood/entire town should get a break. How about having a slum/eyesore tax instead where landlords and other people who don't care about their place falling apart get penalized? If you give people an incentive to fix their homes up instead of screwing them for it, I bet many of them will and maybe there wouldn't be so many crappy looking houses everywhere.
    • carljwinslow, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@skeeto

      dugg up for being one of the few people on digg to spell ridiculous right
  • Urusai, on 10/12/2007, -4/+2I lived in a decent neighborhood in a decent house in a hot real estate market in a desirable town. My house went from $80k to $120k in four years. My taxes were around $2500. These people are either rich or stupid, and my heart doesn't bleed for them either way.
  • chriskzoo, on 10/12/2007, -5/+4Funny this gets posted - I was telling my wife last night about the family that got probably an $800,000 house built for them in Chicago - "Hopefully they have about $250,000 stored away for the taxes they're going to have to pay on that." Then again, they were Mexican, so they' probably won't file.
    • republick, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2Really hahaahahha stupid tax dodgine welfare collecting mexicants.
  • axecollector, on 10/12/2007, -6/+3Nice house, but will it blend (in with the rest of the neighborhood)?
  • saqibnk, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2My economics teacher told our class about this kind of thing happening...he said most people who receive large charitable gifts like these usually end up selling what they received (in this case the house) and just keep whatever money is made from the sale.
    • nbcivic, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0They've got more than enough merchandise in that house to reach the 14K mark, why don't they sell some of it. Ebay is their friend, i can see it now (couch from Extreme Makeover, starting bid 5K)
    • republick, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0My thoughts exactly. Oh they cant do without the 60' tv. they cant see for gods sake.
    • SaintStryfe, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Blind doesn't mean "Can't See" slap nuts. It means visual impairment. I'm legally blind but reading a computer screen (with bigger text) just fine.

      /ignorance is bliss
      //but for you it's like lodestone around your neck
    • thall, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3"They've got more than enough merchandise in that house to reach the 14K mark, why don't they sell some of it. Ebay is their friend, i can see it now (couch from Extreme Makeover, starting bid 5K)"

      Why should they have to pay the increased property tax at all?
  • zizzybaloobah, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7Property taxes are governments' way of telling you that no matter much you have paid, and will continue to pay, your property is never truly yours. BTW I'm in Baltimore City, taxes on our modest rowhome are over $200/month (assessed value is well under 100k) -- thank you Mr. Mayor-now-governor-elect Martin O'Malley!)
  • rdotson, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8This is just more proof that you don't actually own your own home even after you've paid off the mortgage. Your rental payments are called "Property Taxes" and if you fail to pay the rent the government "repossesses" your home and evicts you.
  • LexGuppy235, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1I'm surprised, and rather disgusted, that so many people would find a "forced redistribution of wealth" so deplorable when it is going toward a family of handicapped people - since it is out of your precious pockets. Maybe this unfortunate family would not have needed a home-makeover in the first place if we, as a society, recognized our responsibility to amend for the ravages of an economic system that most of us benefit from - if this is beyond your altruistic limits, which for many of you I suspect it is, then maybe I could appeal to your selfish concern that you or one of the heirs of your esteemed bloodline might someday be down-and-out and in need of a hand.
    • SillyRabbits, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8Well, I'm a little disgusted that we have families in the US that try to be responsible and stop after one or two children because that's all they can afford to raise, but here we have a family that completely ignores responsibility and pops out 3 handicapped children they can't afford and expects all the other responsible families to help support them.

      It's not like it happened all at once, you have a disabled mother that has a disabled child, and then thinks, let's have another, oops, disabled too, well let's have another one, oh, disabled too....hmm...wow they kids sure are expensive....let's ask the family down the street for money...they seem to be doing fine and, after all, they only have to feed one healthy child....

      If you can afford it, have as many bloody childern as you want....but if you can't, don't have them...
  • republick, on 10/12/2007, -6/+2SELL IT AND BUY A 250,000 HOUSE i guess they dont have brains either.
    • Cablewife55, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4You cant buy a shack in NJ anymore for $250,000 - they'd have to move out of State - and maybe he cant get a transfer - not sure
    • republick, on 10/12/2007, -6/+3Well buy a shack like the rest of america.
    • manoftheisland, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1the whole point of the extreme makevoer was that they would have a house that would help their disabilities... granted they could have lived with a smalle home... but that wasnt their choice now was it?
  • Shiftgood, on 10/12/2007, -7/+2You think people wouldnt bitch about taxes if they knew they were going to good use. Youre an American, you should be proud to pay your taxes and help support america. Paying taxes also "supports our troops", wait! you arent... unamerican are you!? you want to support our troops right? then be proud and pay your taxes.

    The problem is our government sucks a donkey dick right now. Why would you want to give Halliburton more money? ***** them, ***** Bush and all his goons. seriously.

    Its pretty funny to see all the republicans starting to hate bush too. That goes to show what a liberal learns in a day, it takes a rep. 6 yrs. Oh well.
    • republick, on 10/12/2007, -10/+1Your an idiot. Liberals dont learn *****.Period Conservatives know what they are doing is wrong but its in thier best interest.
    • perogi21, on 10/12/2007, -7/+2"Your an idiot. Liberals dont learn *****.Period Conservatives know what they are doing is wrong but its in thier best interest."

      Wow, "Your an idiot" and "in thier best interest"

      Good work *****.
    • katsanes, on 01/30/2008, -1/+2@republick

      "Your an idiot."

      You're the idiot.
    • manoftheisland, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3what a useless stretch of conversation ^
  • Cablewife55, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0It says right in the article that someone was raising $100,000 in order to help pay the mortgage, so it is in fact not a fully owned house - so yes they are paying a mortgage and those ridiculous taxes.

    I think there was another extreme makeover family that got beat too - $14,000 is a lot especially if only one of them is working - dont forget not only did taxes go up but I bet other utilities did as well - unless the solar system takes the place of electric - not sure I didnt see the episode. Yes, I have been planning on moving out of NJ for several years now because of this reason - many of my friends already have - just waiting for that transfer - so sad - we live in a State where we pay out the nose and honestly I dont feel like Im getting much more for it. There's a lot of politicians getting loaded methinks. Our financial infrastructure is so screwed at this point not sure if it can ever get fixed.

    I do feel bad for the family because it totally sucks if their only recourse is to sell the house and move out - what was the point in specially designing the house for them in the first place? Now they can get a new home somewhere else yes but not with features they may need ( and I dont mean the plasma tvs either )
  • VeganG, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Pimp My Ride is just as bad. They "pimp" your car so much that you would never be able to safely park it anywhere, much less afford the insurance payments.
    • skeeto, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I've wondered how many of those cars get stolen, broken into or vandalized. Would make for an interesting follow-up special.
    • SillyRabbits, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Yeah, I always wondered who paid the taxes on that. The funny thing is that the second they drove it out of the shop, they probably couldn't sell the car for a quarter of the cost of the work they just put into it (that nasty $3000 riceboy paint job on the pinto sure isn't going to help the resale value much). Hey we just put 20K into a $1500 car and made a $4000 car. lol
  • SaintStryfe, on 10/12/2007, -4/+2Extreme Makeover Home Editon is a GIANT ADVERTISEMENT FOR SEARS.

    Look at it, jees. Ty is a Sears spokesperson, everything they seem to buy is from Sears, they have 20 Sears ads per show, and the families are almost always Sears' corporate image.

    Let Sears help the poor people out. Maybe this time with less farkups.
  • pennyroyal, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1their house sucked, anway.

    and in regards to the sears comment, i'm pretty sure blind people isn't really Sears' powertool demographic.
    • carljwinslow, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1"Corporate image" does not equal "demographic." Just look at McDonald's commercials and then go visit one--you'll never see the fat guy with stains on his sweatpants in the commercials, but you'll invariably see at least two or three of him while you're in the restaurant (as much as I hate to use the word restaurant in regards to McDonald's.)
  • perogi21, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Maybe these people should have "Just said no"

    Of course, if anyone wants to put hundreds of thousands of dollars into my house, I think I manage the hardship of paying taxes on it...
  • Longstreets, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3GD F'ing Taxes!
    The only citizen initiated property tax regime that made sense to me stated that your taxes never changed as long as you owned the property.The property could only be re-assessed when it changed hands.

    There is something wrong where people who have spent damn near a lifetime in their house are forced out because of property taxes simply because property values in the neighborhood have appreciated .
    • manoftheisland, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2good law... makes me love texas too
  • Slacker101, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2HAHAHA I laugh at ABC and there screwing up peoples lives.
  • shiftless, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Oh boo hoo... now they have a huge house to sell.
  • rholloway, on 10/12/2007, -3/+11. *****' Jersey. What did you expect from a state that doubles as a trash dump and doesn't allow a left turn?

    2. This has happened more than once--this house just happens to be close enough to NYC to get some attention.
    • yournamehere, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Funny, we dump our trash in Staten Island

      As for NJ, yeah.. it sucks next to the airport because that's where all the industry is. We get the crap from NY. That said, if you go about 1 hour in any direction south/west you really get to see why they call it the 'garden state'.

      anyone like this idiot that makes an uninformed statement obviously has only been near the airports.
  • killer63, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Why not sell the house and move into an apartment. They may feel cramped in a small apartment but they will learn to deal with it.
  • steamedlice, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1Extreme Makeover should ONLY upgrade the inside of the house, not the outside.
  • chancefavors, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1i know this has been mentioned before but it bears repeating: didn't anyone learn from the oprah car "giveaway" fiasco?
  • IndianaJ, on 10/12/2007, -5/+2Two words to your brilliant IRS..... "***** OFF!!"
    • dime, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7Last I checked, the IRS doesn't collect property taxes.
  • 5hop4orce, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5We need to abolish property taxes.

    It's not your house if you're paying the government rent.
  • samson7842, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1I am disgusted by most of the people here. Where is your humanity? Yes, these people have more kids than they should given their circumstances. I'll give you that. But at least they are together, in a two parent household. Something that most conservatives want to see more of. And, I agree that it isn't fair to the rest of us these people should get a new house built for them, complete with all the extras. But, I counter that it is even less fair that they should have to deal with all the health issues facing them. Fate has dealt these people more than their share of bad luck. So, in my eyes this is helps to even things out.

    What is wrong with these people getting a little comfort and security in their lives? It's probably the only real material happiness they will ever have. We, as Americans should be happy for them and do whatever we can to help them keep their home. They shouldn't have to sell the house, or anything in it. They should be able to enjoy their gift. What if there was a fund set up just for the property taxes? It could be managed by professionals so it would get the maximum return. The funds would never be touched except to pay the taxes. If this could be done the right way, they would never have to worry about the property taxes as long as they stay in the home. Maybe, we "diggers", should do something to help these people instead of "digging" them down? I'll be first. I pledge $100 dollars to this fund. If everyone else reading this post would do the same, we could do something for our fellow Americans who really deserve and need this kind of assistance. If you're not American, cool. Then do this to help your fellow human being. Maybe there are some tax attorneys reading this who wouldn't mind volunteering to help set this up. The same goes for anyone who has any expertise in doing this kind of thing. Let's make this family safe and worry free in one very important aspect of their lives; their dwelling Who's in?
  • Fetching more discussions...
    Show 51 - 60 of 60 discussions
  •  

    Login or register to add a comment

    Create a new account or login to join in the conversation on Digg. You'll also be able to Digg stories to help promote things you like.


© Digg Inc. 2008 — Content posted by Digg users is dedicated to the public domain.
DIGG, DIGG IT, DUGG, DIGG THIS, Digg graphics, logos, designs, page headers, button icons, scripts, and other service names are the trademarks of Digg Inc.