Stephen Burke

HYPOTHETICALLY… IF I BOUGHT MY HOUSE FOR $125,000 IN 2002 AND THE COUNTY NOW SAYS IT’S WORTH $487,000, WHERE DID I ACTUALLY MAKE $362,000? Did I sell it? No. Did I receive $362,000? No. Did somebody hand me a check for the new assessed value? Obviously not. But my property taxes still go up because, on paper, my house is suddenly worth hundreds of thousands more. That’s the part that doesn’t make sense to me. This isn’t income. It isn’t cash sitting in my bank account. It’s a number someone assigned to my property, and now I’m being billed based on that number. If my stock portfolio doubles but I don’t sell, I haven’t turned that gain into cash. If my salary stays the same, I don’t suddenly owe more income tax because someone thinks I’m worth more. So why does owning a home work differently? WHY AM I PAYING TAX ON A GAIN I NEVER REALIZED? A house isn’t just an investment. It’s where people live. You can pay off the mortgage, own the property outright, and still face a bigger bill every year because the value of the house went up on paper. At some point, you have to ask what “owning” something actually means if the cost of keeping it can keep rising because of money you never received. THIS ISN’T ABOUT WHETHER THE HOUSE IS “WORTH” MORE. IT’S ABOUT BEING CHARGED FOR VALUE YOU NEVER TURNED INTO CASH. And people are starting to notice.