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STORIES:
Taxing
Vacant Property - (www.project-syndicate.org)
Governments can help this adjustment process through the mechanism of a
vacant property tax. The logic is simple, property that is vacant for a
substantial period of time (e.g. 3-6 months) will face an additional tax (e.g.
1.0 percent of assessed value) in addition to whatever normal tax the property
would face. The tax would give owners of vacant land, houses, and businesses a
strong incentive to lower prices in order to have the property used. The
administration of the tax should be straightforward. In almost all cases
property will already have an assessed value on public records, so this will
require no new work from the tax authorities. In the case of commercial or
rental property, property owners will have to show an income from the property
or pay the tax. If they choose to lie about a vacancy, they will end up paying
tax on income they are not receiving. In the case of purely residential
property, for example a homeowner who has moved or a developer who is holding
out for a high price, property owners may lie about the status, but the risk of
detection should cause many to pay the tax. (Part-year vacancies may have the
delicious result that German property owners will have to pay a substantial tax
on summer homes in Greece or Spain.) An almost inescapable outcome is that the
government will collect additional revenue and reduce vacancies, putting
downward pressure on property prices and rents.
unconstitutional
foreclosure? - (www.denverpost.com)
A federal judge Tuesday formally stopped the foreclosure auction of an
Aurora woman's house, leaving unanswered whether he can determine whether a
part of Colorado's foreclosure laws is unconstitutional. While U.S. District
Judge William J. Martínez's order enjoins U.S. Bank, the trustee on Lisa Kay
Brumfiel's mortgage, from seeking a public-trustee foreclosure, it doesn't stop
the bank from pursuing her house the old-fashioned way — via a lawsuit in state
court. The bank conceded to the injunction late Monday because, lawyers said in
a court filing, it had already closed the foreclosure case it filed against
Brumfiel with the Arapahoe County public trustee's office more than 18 months
ago. Additionally, the bank said it has requested a state judge to rescind his
order to sell the house. Although U.S. Bank said it would never again seek a
public-trustee foreclosure against Brumfiel's house — essentially rendering her
federal lawsuit moot — Martínez did not dismiss her complaint outright, because
the state judge hasn't ruled yet.
Coeure
Says ECB Looking at Options to Boost Lending - (www.bloomberg.com) European Central Bank Executive Board member Benoit Coeure said while
the ECB is looking at options to spur lending to smaller companies it shouldn’t
artificially change risk premiums paid by such firms. “The ECB is today
exploring options to further strengthen lending to the real economy and, in
particular, to small and medium-sized enterprises,” Coeure said in a speech in
Orleans,France, today. At the same time, “seeking to
artificially eliminate differences in financing costs arising from different
risk environment or from insufficient capital would amount to substituting
actions not taken by other actors,” he said. The Frankfurt-based central bank
on May 2 cut its benchmark
interest rate to a record low of 0.5 percent and President
Mario Draghi said the ECB is exploring options to rekindle the market for
asset-backed securities to support lending to smaller companies. Still, policy
makers are “far from reaching any conclusion,” he said.
BOJ may seek ways to calm bond yields, policy on hold - (www.reuters.com) The Bank of Japan is
expected to stand pat on monetary policy next week despite jitters over the
recent jump in bond yields, hoping it can stem the volatility by fine-tuning
market operations. The central bank may front-load bond purchases or offer
funds via market operations more frequently if the bond market turbulence
persists, which are technical steps that can be taken by its bureaucrats
without approval by the nine-member board. It is expected to hold off on easing
policy through further increases in asset purchases, having already pledged in
April to double its bond holdings in two years to expand the supply of money at
an annual pace of 60 trillion ($588 billion) to 70 trillion yen. The recent
bond selloff, which sent the 10-year yield to a one-year high of 0.92 percent
on Wednesday, has highlighted the dilemma the central bank faces as it attempts
to generate inflation in a country mired in price falls for 15 years.
JPMChase
Refuses Home Loan To Former Soft-Core Porn Producer Citing "Moral
Objections" - (www.mfi-miami.com)
In rejecting plaintiff’s application, JPMorgan asserted that its
superior moral position prevented it from loaning plaintiff money because one
of plaintiff’s sources of income did not meet JPMorgan’s ‘morality standards’
and that the ‘reputational risk’ of loaning plaintiff money threatened
JPMorgan’s public image. JPMorgan’s hypocrisy would be laughable except
plaintiff was in fact illegally discriminated against and denied a loan by
JPMorgan.” -Complaint in Greenberg v JPMorgan Chase. Marc L. Greenberg, the
producer behind late-night Cinemax soft-core porn classics like “Co-Ed
Confidential” and “The Best Sex Ever,” and made for TV classics like
“Deviant Co-Eds” is suing JPMorgan Chase in Los Angeles Superior Court
claiming lending discrimination.
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