Unfair Property Tax Base

The true reason why “young people under 35 cannot afford to own their own homes these days unless they have double income or they could get financial aid from their parents” (“This Generation Gap Is Built on Real Estate” by Ellen Goodman, Op-Ed Page March 29) is: Because, “Over the past 15 years, income fell behind inflation and houses sped ahead” (as Ms. Goodman stated), but not because their hard-working parents built “their good fortune by investing their savings into real estate.”

Twenty years ago, the average annual income was one-third of the average house price. Today, average annual income is only one-tenth of the average house price. Our government should face the fact of this “inflation” and raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour. Then, competitive business employers will raise their employees’ average annual salary to the level of $100,000, or one-third of the average house price “these days.”

Trying to squeeze “parents’ good fortune” to solve the problem, as Ms. Goodman suggests (“tax more of the capital gains that came to those who rode the real-estate boom”), would be an incorrect method to solve the fundamental economic problem, just as our government has tried and failed, without facing the true cause “over the past 15 years.”

MIZUE D. SMITH

Culver City