this post was submitted on 19 May 2025
999 points (99.4% liked)

Europe

5953 readers
1341 users here now

News and information from Europe πŸ‡ͺπŸ‡Ί

(Current banner: La Mancha, Spain. Feel free to post submissions for banner images.)

Rules (2024-08-30)

  1. This is an English-language community. Comments should be in English. Posts can link to non-English news sources when providing a full-text translation in the post description. Automated translations are fine, as long as they don't overly distort the content.
  2. No links to misinformation or commercial advertising. When you post outdated/historic articles, add the year of publication to the post title. Infographics must include a source and a year of creation; if possible, also provide a link to the source.
  3. Be kind to each other, and argue in good faith. Don't post direct insults nor disrespectful and condescending comments. Don't troll nor incite hatred. Don't look for novel argumentation strategies at Wikipedia's List of fallacies.
  4. No bigotry, sexism, racism, antisemitism, islamophobia, dehumanization of minorities, or glorification of National Socialism. We follow German law; don't question the statehood of Israel.
  5. Be the signal, not the noise: Strive to post insightful comments. Add "/s" when you're being sarcastic (and don't use it to break rule no. 3).
  6. If you link to paywalled information, please provide also a link to a freely available archived version. Alternatively, try to find a different source.
  7. Light-hearted content, memes, and posts about your European everyday belong in [email protected]. (They're cool, you should subscribe there too!)
  8. Don't evade bans. If we notice ban evasion, that will result in a permanent ban for all the accounts we can associate with you.
  9. No posts linking to speculative reporting about ongoing events with unclear backgrounds. Please wait at least 12 hours. (E.g., do not post breathless reporting on an ongoing terror attack.)
  10. Always provide context with posts: Don't post uncontextualized images or videos, and don't start discussions without giving some context first.

(This list may get expanded as necessary.)

Posts that link to the following sources will be removed

Unless they're the only sources, please also avoid The Sun, Daily Mail, any "thinktank" type organization, and non-Lemmy social media. Don't link to Twitter directly, instead use xcancel.com. For Reddit, use old:reddit:com

(Lists may get expanded as necessary.)

Ban lengths, etc.

We will use some leeway to decide whether to remove a comment.

If need be, there are also bans: 3 days for lighter offenses, 7 or 14 days for bigger offenses, and permanent bans for people who don't show any willingness to participate productively. If we think the ban reason is obvious, we may not specifically write to you.

If you want to protest a removal or ban, feel free to write privately to the primary mod account @[email protected]

founded 11 months ago
MODERATORS
 

geteilt von: https://sh.itjust.works/post/38301389

To try to tackle this, the Welsh Labour government, alongside Plaid Cymru, introduced measures to curb second-home ownership. This included giving councils the ability to push council tax on second homes to 300% the usual rate. They also closed a loophole whereby second-home owners could register as a business in order to pay the much lower business rates.

Gwynedd council used these powers to hike council tax to 150% in April 2023. By the end of 2024, house prices had fallen by 12.4% as second-home owners tried to sell up. In Pembrokeshire, house prices fell by 8.9% after the council increased the council tax to 200% on second homes (though this was reduced to 150% recently).

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 211 points 3 days ago (3 children)

Wow, look at that, turns out legislative action representing the people's best interests has been proven infinitely more effective than empowering a dictator to execute everyone who initially refuses to redistribute.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 days ago (4 children)

Wow, look at that, turns out legislative action representing the people’s best interests has been proven infinitely more effective than empowering a dictator to execute everyone who initially refuses to redistribute.

Er... I have to admit I'm not up to date on politics in Wales. To what is that referring?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

This is a reference to communist revolutions in Cuba, China, and the Soviet Union, and to a lesser extent Venezuela.

Dictators took power in violent revolutions and they did succeed in redistributing wealth but at the cost of thousands to millions of lives, most of whom were civilians.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 days ago

I mean I can see that, I just don't know what it has to do with this article. Nothing there or in this thread suggests to me that violent autocracies were ever under serious consideration as a contender for "solution to housing crisis in Wales". It looked like the original comment was replying to some kind of previous conversation that I was unaware of.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Never engage with finitebanjo unless you enjoy talking to the human equivalent of a cork board with a bunch of red yarn connecting various unrelated pictures.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I think they're suggesting that it's better to enact left-leaning legislation to curb unfettered capitalism, than it is to cheer on the free market and let pressure on the working class escalate to where we get a communist revolution, which in turn often results in a violent dictatorship. Probably.

[–] [email protected] -5 points 3 days ago

Often? Try always. Revolutions are, by definition, change in leadership brought about by force of arms. Since violence was necessary to establish the regime, violence will be necessary to maintain it.

Beyond that, Marxism is predicated on the division of the people into the "proletariat" and "bourgeoisie", with one of the key aims of any Marxist regime being the oppression of the bourgeoisie (as well as any member of the proletariat determined to be a "class-traitor".) Violent, oppressive dictatorships aren't just an unfortunate side-effect of socialist revolutions, they're the only possible outcome.

[–] [email protected] 39 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Its as if the solution to capitalism isnt whitewashing regimes that have done some of the worst crimes against humanity possibly but rather government regulations brought upon by democratic action.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 3 days ago

Tankies hate this one weird trick!

[–] [email protected] 52 points 3 days ago

Corporations hate this trick.