Wealth Today

The house legislative body has just taken action to save 22 million tax payers thousands of dollars by making adjustments to the alternative minimum tax law. This law, from the end of the 1960’s was originally intended to guaruntee that no one, especially the wealthy, escaped paying any tax. When written, it was flawed because it did not account for inflation. Senate representatives applauded this new revision for not creating new taxes in compensation for the lost revenue.

With reports such as this one at Bloomberg, shed some alarming light into the dark world of the U.S. real estate economy. Some of the highlights include a 16 percent decrease in the average price of a home in Tampa while San Diego is the third worst in the nation, with a 21 percent plummet in value. Sacramento’s value dropped the most at 28%.

Watching this happen, I kind of believe it’s just beginning. I don’t know exactly how long it will continue, but I’m sure it’s not over, and I know things will turn around again. I feel that we’ll be experiencing more factors over the coming months that will be pulling down the value of home prices even more. We’re also seeing an increase in the unemployment filings, and as those increase we will likely expect to a corresponding increase in foreclosures which will affect the overall value of homes. Interestingly enough, the decrease in value will also affect tax revenue related to price of homes which has a negative impact on civic infrastructure.