China’s Housing Market Is Like a Casino. Can a Property Tax Tame It?
NANJING, China — China has tried just about everything to tame a property market in which home prices sometimes jump around like the value of Bitcoin.
“I know the yield is too low,” Mr. Ma said, “but I want to have a home, and an apartment makes my family and me feel safe.”
It is not clear whether a property tax would cover all homes, or just second ones.
Living in a place without property taxes may sound appealing,
but a growing number of experts and policymakers in China say the absence of one has helped destabilize a vast and crucial part of the Chinese economy.
Many investors snap up homes — in China, they are mostly apartments — hoping to ride a price surge.
The slogan, Mr. Xiao said, would be “Legislation first, full authorization, move forward step by step.”
A property tax could have a profound impact on a crucial part of the nation’s economy.
Now the Chinese government is considering adopting something that, while familiar to homeowners in the United States
and elsewhere, could dramatically reshape the world’s second-largest economy: a property tax.
