Posted by Joe Lorenzino on Saturday, May 31, 2003 at 4:51PM :
In Reply to: Re: The Economy: posted by Willy-N on Saturday, May 31, 2003 at 1:25PM :
I always wondered why my cousin, and his neighbours, in a mountain valley in B.C. CANADA never finished their buildings. They would get the structure and the inside finished, but never put the siding on. He told me that the only time you would add siding, was when you wanted to SELL the place. It turns out that they were taxed as an "unfinished building" as long as there was no siding, and this saved them lots over the years. The sister and brother-in-law have a "yurt" as a guest house at their place because it is a "tent" for property tax purposes. In the city where I live, "straight wall, steel clad" comercial buildings are taxed at a higher rate than either slant walled, or masonry ones. Sometimes it really pays to look into the tax "structure" for your area BEFORE you build anything, because a small change in design (straight wall to slant wall for example) can end up saving you a lot in the long run.
Does anyone remember one of the old British "Carry On" series of movies where the tax department comes up with a "sex enjoyment tax" ?? The idea was to create a tax that would have people bragging about how high their tax bill was. It was hoped that some would even start lying in order to pay MORE "S.E.T." than what they were actually "getting". Joe L.
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