From an economic, scientific and public policy generating standpoint, this statement is precise and correct.

It gets frustrating living in Seattle, men are not really men up here, they are quite feminine and actually very nerd like. And women are more masculine then the men, maybe they should think about wearing some makeup once in awhile. So, I think we should all get over our PCness, grow some backbones, let loose what we want to let loose and get on with this ridiculous bubble deflating. Thanks…

I’m just asking that we not use the “anonymity” of the Internet as an excuse to treat people with less respect than we would (or should, at least) if we were having a face-to-face conversation.

I have to say, that might be the first time I was ever accused of being “PC”. Heh.

I appreciate your passion on the topic, but I would appreciate it if we tried to maintain a certain level of civility here. Name-calling is really not necessary. Thanks for understanding.

The guy who wrote this is a buffoon. Sorry for stating the obvious. He is just another jackass Seattleite who is living in a perpetual fantasyland. We are NOT immune to the downdraft that is now well underway in CA. It will affect us up here. When 40% of job increases are related to real estate, what do you think happens when real estate slows? We can see this happening now as layoffs at mortgage lenders are now being advertised.

What amazes me is the amount of radical belief in this housing bubble. It is as if we DIDN’T just go through a crushing stock market blowout a couple of years ago. Where is the memory of these people? Do they really thin that 75-100K gains in a short amount of time is justified? Again, what a jackass!

Of course, you don’t believe I am right, but you do have a point. It seems that since the tax is levied on the seller, it ought to be based on the profit of the sale, rather than the absolute price. Of course that would never happen.

At any rate, increasing a tax on anything will serve to discourage that thing. Taxing home sellers will decrease the supply of people selling homes & thus further increase prices.

So are you saying that if someone is thinking of selling their house at a $75,000 profit, an extra $3,240 in taxes will dissuade them from doing so? Personally, all I think this will discourage will be “flipping.” And a decrease in the amount of flipping doesn’t translate to a decrease in real supply, in my opinion.

It’s interesting–both Democrats & Republicans want to pursue policies that will keep home prices high.

Interesting observations, though I think that “keeping home prices high” is more of a side effect (at the moment, anyway) of the policies of the D’s and R’s, as opposed to the goal.

But if you’re right about the bubble, then that’s not going to be the case very soon–in which case you ought to be shedding a tear.

At any rate, increasing a tax on anything will serve to discourage that thing. Taxing home sellers will decrease the supply of people selling homes & thus further increase prices.

It’s interesting–both Democrats & Republicans want to pursue policies that will keep home prices high. Republicans want to do so by making the region attractive to more and more people & businesses, thus increasing demand. Democrats want to do so by adding more & more restrictions & taxes on homes & home sales, thus decreasing supply.