My dad found out how much im paying in rent. And knows I can’t save shit cuz of student loan payments. We looked up my apartment building’s worth and I alone am paying almost half of my landlord’s mortgage. Dad basically said, “fuck your landlord. What if I help you buy a small house with my name?” I told him I was down if possible.
Turns out that he’d have a huge tax write off go away when he finishes paying his house — which is soon. The tax gist of it is that dad can buy a second home or apartment building and write off property taxes and interests paid if I’m living there.
So, now we’re realizing that the write off basically encourages ppl to buy shit. Then add the possibility of making money off tenants and bam: huge fucking incentive to buy apartments.
Luckily my dad hates the idea of ever collecting rent from ppl and he’s not out encouraging me to buy apartments or some other stupid shit. But I can imagine others seeing it as a cash grab —especially if they can cover the mortgage by leeching off renters or just make fucking money of em. Shit is so fucked. Holy shit I hate this country.
:the-more-you-know-png:
Yeah, the depreciation is in theory increasing your capital gains tax down the road at some point (like you said, that's already a "win", since that rate is lower) but you can still dodge even that with a 1031 exchange, and/or a "step up in basis" when you die and your little slumlordlets take over. You can dodge capital gains until you die, and then when you do, neither your estate or your heirs have to pay it. It's a racket.
Oh my god I just read up on both of those and it's so incredible how meritocratic this country is. I can depreciate my assets then when I die and my kid sells the place they don't have to pay any taxes on the money I saved from depreciation which I also passed down to them! I love how this country is just like "yes but how can we enshrine generational slumlords in our laws?"
:agony-deep: