If IP Is Property, Where Is the Property Tax?

nweaver writes "In a response to the LA Times editorial on copyright which we discussed a week ago, the paper published a response arguing: 'If Intellectual Property is actually property, why isn't it covered by a property tax?' If copyright maintenance involved paying a fee and registration, this would keep Mickey Mouse safely protected by copyright, while ensuring that works that are no longer economically relevant to the copyright holder pass into the public domain, where the residual social value can serve the real purpose of copyright: to enhance the progress of science and useful arts. Disclaimer: the author is my father."

Comments

Patents have a "tax"

[Janthkin]

There are fees associated with maintaining patents (due at 3.5, 7.5, and 11.5 years), and failure to pay them on schedule results in cancellation of the patent.

Re:Wow...

[Siridar]

Please, if you're going to use the ideas of another person, at least credit them for it. In this case, you're quoting Robert Heinlein's idea for property tax in his novel "The Number of the Beast" - specifically, when the group of bold adventurers go to a alternate universe where land tax was assessed in that manner.

If I recall correctly, it was put thus:

The owner appraises their own property, and pays tax on that value. However, anyone can come along and against the owners wishes buy the property - at which point the owner has two options: sell, or raise their valuation of the property to a price so high that nobody would want to buy it. However if they did this, they would be required to pay five years back taxes of the new, higher value.

One of the characters in the book (Zeb? I can't recall...) when it was pointed out to him that this was unfair, replied with "if some fool wants 5 hectares of useless, hilly land, we'll simply take his money and buy elsewhere..."

I wish it was that uncommon.

[Kadin2048]

property tax is just on land, not on the various other things you own Yeah, tell that to my Personal Property tax bill. If you're in a locale that doesn't tax vehicles and other high-value items of personal property, consider yourself lucky. Most places have them; some tax specific items (vehicles, boats, RVs), while others just set a minimum dollar value for taxation and go after all durable goods beyond that point, generally with exceptions granted for non-durable and household goods.

I've lived in states where property taxes were aggressively enforced by municipalities on such varied things as artwork, out-of-state or un-plated vehicles (even if it was never registered or driven on public roads), even office furniture and equipment. In the U.S., sometimes they're administered -- and therefore vary -- at the state level, in other areas it's devolved down to the city/town/county level.

Some states (Florida that I'm aware of specifically) had/have an "intangible personal property" tax, specifically on things like stocks, bonds, bearer notes, money market funds, pretty much anything that's worth anything. Florida's was recently repealed, but it's not like the concept is totally foreign or anything.

Re:Parent just doesn't understand capital gains

[DougWebb]

That's an accurate description of Capital Gains taxes, but the discussion is about Property taxes. Maybe you don't pay property taxes where you live, but in many US states every year you have to pay a percentage of the assessed value of property you own as a tax. For example, in the NJ town where I live, I currently pay 16% of the assessed value of my home and land. (66% of that goes to the local school board, 20% goes to the county, and 14% goes to my town.) Property values are just being reassessed now after 25 years; with the new assessment, the tax rate will probably drop to 2.5% to 3%.

So, every year I pay 3% of the approximate value of my property, whether I sell it or not. No mansion for me; even if it was given to me for free, I couldn't afford to own it.