this post was submitted on 17 Apr 2026
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Explain Like I'm Five

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Explain Like I am a child ... taxes. I get you pay taxes on goods you buy everyday. And you get said goods by paying a one time fee. But how come on a home after being paid off I still pay taxes...... (lemmy.world)
submitted 4 weeks ago* (last edited 4 weeks ago) by Patnou@lemmy.world to c/explainlikeimfive@lemmy.world
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I mean I paid for it like I would anything else I wanted. They charge a tax at checkout. So if I buy a house and pay the whole thing off, why do I still have to pay taxes on said house when I paid the whole agreed on price in full? It would be like me buying a six pack of beer I pay for it and tax at checkout. But then timely I have to keep paying taxes on the beer even though paid in full?

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[–] brewery@feddit.uk 1 points 4 weeks ago

It depends exactly where you live but generally it's to pay for things that your society has deemed to be better spent together. There is the obvious stuff like roads, schools, pensions, police, fire, health, prisons, court systems, bin collections etc. Then there is defence/war, immigration controls, overseas embassies, security services, postal services, plus regulations (health and safety, food standards, restaurants, barbers, doctors, dentists, construction, fire safety etc.) - somebody has to make the rules and check they're being followed. Often local property taxes are collected for local needs (e.g. police and education).

As much as it feels painful, you do benefit from a lot of collective activity that needs to be paid for.