>Also, if financial institutions had to pay the taxes on the houses they own when they foreclose (they do not), it wouldn't be going down.

Maybe that's what I should do... become a financial institution, give myself a loan to buy my house for myself, pay nothing, foreclose myself, stop paying the tax, actually get myself (as a bank) into the red and get bailed out. That way I wouldn't pay taxes, can keep the house, and would get money from others' taxes to pay the house to myself.

Nice.