How To Make Housing Even Less Affordable

[flyingvan]

    Well, here in the People's Republic of Kalifornia, we have a new new 'wood tax'.  My receipt from Home Depot had this extra charge on it--"1% wood product fee".  I ask the check out girl what that is, she said she didn't know but everyone keeps complaining to her about it..
     Turns out California's timber industry is so heavily regulated the regulating costs more than the timber.  Governor Jerry  Lewis Brown sure knows how to stick it to people who do stuff.  By forcing consumers to pay 1% more on top of the already high sales tax for wood products, it takes some of the regulatory cost pressures off timber producers in the state.  Since something like 80% of the wood products are imported, it ends up being like an interstate tariff---Consumers pay extra for more in state regulation on products produced out of state.
    1% increase in building materials is significant.  There's a paint fee, too.  California Department of Forestry decided they needed a bigger role and re-cast themselves as 'CalFire', the state's firefighting authority, and billed every parcel in the State Responsibility Area $150 (we have three properties, already serviced by efficient volunteers, so $450 a year) 
     Makes me want to wait until these fees drive housing costs up, liquidate, and find somewhere a bit more user friendly

[jsahara24]

I can't blame you. 

Sent from my XT907 using Tapatalk 2

[Huge29]

Only in the land of fruits and nuts does the nut always rise to the top, what happened to the cream rising to the top?