Property tax on owner-occupied residential property everywhere should have a "replace it with a lien against the property" option - some states have it.
The exact situation you're referring to caused Prop 13 in CA, and something has to be done before something like that gets enacted.
California has the California Tax Postponement Program which predates Prop 13 and specifically protects poor old grandma.
Prop 13 wasn't passed as a law to help the unfortunate. It was anti tax hatred of the government. Jarvis wanted a "tax revolt" which is why all property in the state, even oil fields and golf courses, gets the tax break.
Doesn't that approach just defer the tax until the property was sold?
If so I wonder if that can create the opposite of the problem of elderly people being forced out by rising taxes. Namely someone who wants to move out but can't afford to because after all the deferred taxes are paid from the proceeds of a sale they won't have enough left for another place.
Do you mean transfer the lien to your new property? A lot of seniors move to different states which might complicate things.
There's another way that is better than it currently is, without the downside of building a potentially large debt if the senior manages to live a long time after retirement before finally needing to move.
That's exemptions and/or freezes. E.g., here in Washington if you are at least 61 and have a disposable income under 70% of your county median income they freeze the assessed value of your property and exempt you from part of the state-wide property tax. On a $400k assessed value home that would cut the taxes from $3400/year to $2200/year in my county. The 70% threshold is $65k.
There are more exemptions at 60% ($56k) and 50% ($46k) that remove more of the state-wide tax and also some of county and city taxes. For those below the 50% threshold in my county that would reduce the tax on a $400k assessed home to $900/year.
Washington does also have a tax deferral program, but that is aimed to low income in general rather than seniors. I think it is meant for cases where you have a temporary reduction of income but are expected to recover.
Exemptions also work - and we end up with something like that in areas that don’t have them - few taxing authorities will force s tax lien sale against an elderly or disabled family - the optics are just way too bad.
They’ll just record them and wait. It’s the one thing the government has that normal companies/people can’t do. Wait it out over lifetimes.
I can only find information on property tax liens as it relates to delinquency and non payment, not as an alternative model for deferring property taxes (I imagine until death of the owner or sale of said property)
Do you have any more information? At first blush I can see how inheritance schemes would create massive loopholes in this for example.
The exact situation you're referring to caused Prop 13 in CA, and something has to be done before something like that gets enacted.