Dumb, dumber

It looks like Socialist democratic politicians Tomas Östros and Carin Jämtin are still trying to make people believe that a 1% annual tax on the estimated value of a property is better than a 0,5% annual interest rate on the actual profit from a property sale.

So, you sell your house with a profit of 1.000.000 SEK. You can either pay the 22% tax on this profit right away, and have 780.000 SEK left, or you can postpone this tax and pay an annual interest rate of 0,5%, around 5000 SEK, until you actually pay that 22% tax, at which time you stop paying the annual interest rate.

Or you can go with Östros' and Jämtin's system, which gives you a tax rate of 1% of a property's estimated value. Live in a home some bureaucrat has estimated to be worth 3.000.000 SEK, and pay 30.000 SEK annually in property tax. Of course, you will still have to pay a 22% tax on the profit when you sell, although you will be able to postpone it without paying interest rates.

Now, which of these would you rather pay (none, obviously, but given the choice between plague and cholera...)?