4 ms·

The infrastructure investment is not worth it at all if you remain with low density along these lines. A land tax surcharge should be assessed on all properties

The infrastructure investment is not worth it at all if you remain with low density along these lines. A land tax surcharge should be assessed on all properties that will benefit from this infrastructure.

jdavis703 10y ago
Even more specifically a parcel tax should be created. The more units you then have in your parcel, the lower the tax will be.
- nickff 10y ago
  The city has already imposed various 'fees' for permitting which penalize high density development, and also uses zoning to keep density down. Now you want it to tax low density as well? An even more complex web of permits, taxes, and regulations only serves to drive the cost of housing higher than it already is. Why not just remove the barriers to high density development?
  - jdavis703 10y ago
    Incentivizing high density development via tax policy and removing needless regulations are not mutually exclusive.
    - nickff 10y ago
      I agree that they are not mutually exclusive, but would generally prefer a simpler policy to a more complicated one. In addition, governments are prone to create increasingly complex rules which they use to help certain preferred groups (such as neighborhoods or campaign contributors). Reducing the barriers to high density development would encourage densification without increasing corruption; if this is insufficient, more active measures could be implemented soon.
- bufordsharkley 10y ago
  A parcel tax is a very imperfect cousin of a Land Value Tax-- assessing all parcels the same regardless of land value is extremely inefficient and inegalitarian.
spoonie 10y ago
Absolutely! The Gold Coast region in Australia has some studies about how they used Land Value Tax to fund infrastructure development. Namely the land value increases around new transit stops that were built could be captured by the city rather than going into the pockets of private owners. This idea is called "Value Capture". http://www.afr.com/opinion/columnists/following-the-act-land-tax-approach-boosts-growth-and-state-budgets-20161018-gs4om9 http://www.afr.com/opinion/columnists/following-the-act-land... http://theconversation.com/gold-coast-light-rail-study-helps-put-a-figure-on-value-captures-funding-potential-65084 http://theconversation.com/gold-coast-light-rail-study-helps...
- honkhonkpants 10y ago
  Value capture is explicitly unconstitutional in California.
  - kspaans 10y ago
    Fascinating! I just moved to SF so I didn't know that. I assume you're referring to Prop 13? My understanding is that it's about property taxes, not land taxes. Possibly there is some legal wiggle room in there? Anyway, looks like there are other forms of value capture that may not run afoul of Prop 13! Thanks for pointing that out I learned something new today. :) http://iff.scag.ca.gov/Pages/ValueCapture.aspx http://iff.scag.ca.gov/Pages/ValueCapture.aspx http://www.transitwiki.org/TransitWiki/index.php?title=Value-capture_finance http://www.transitwiki.org/TransitWiki/index.php?title=Value...
    - dragonwriter 10y ago
      LVT are a form of property tax on real property; they differ from traditional ad valorem real property taxes in that they do not apply to the value of improvements, but were one to try to implement them in California, the Constitutional limits on real property taxation (Prop 13) would apply to them in the same way as it does to other real property taxes.
  - WildUtah 10y ago

jdavis703 10y ago

Even more specifically a parcel tax should be created. The more units you then have in your parcel, the lower the tax will be.

nickff 10y ago
The city has already imposed various 'fees' for permitting which penalize high density development, and also uses zoning to keep density down. Now you want it to tax low density as well? An even more complex web of permits, taxes, and regulations only serves to drive the cost of housing higher than it already is. Why not just remove the barriers to high density development?
- jdavis703 10y ago
  Incentivizing high density development via tax policy and removing needless regulations are not mutually exclusive.
  - nickff 10y ago
    I agree that they are not mutually exclusive, but would generally prefer a simpler policy to a more complicated one. In addition, governments are prone to create increasingly complex rules which they use to help certain preferred groups (such as neighborhoods or campaign contributors). Reducing the barriers to high density development would encourage densification without increasing corruption; if this is insufficient, more active measures could be implemented soon.
bufordsharkley 10y ago
A parcel tax is a very imperfect cousin of a Land Value Tax-- assessing all parcels the same regardless of land value is extremely inefficient and inegalitarian.

spoonie 10y ago

Absolutely! The Gold Coast region in Australia has some studies about how they used Land Value Tax to fund infrastructure development. Namely the land value increases around new transit stops that were built could be captured by the city rather than going into the pockets of private owners. This idea is called "Value Capture". http://www.afr.com/opinion/columnists/following-the-act-land-tax-approach-boosts-growth-and-state-budgets-20161018-gs4om9 http://www.afr.com/opinion/columnists/following-the-act-land... http://theconversation.com/gold-coast-light-rail-study-helps-put-a-figure-on-value-captures-funding-potential-65084 http://theconversation.com/gold-coast-light-rail-study-helps...

honkhonkpants 10y ago
Value capture is explicitly unconstitutional in California.
- kspaans 10y ago
  Fascinating! I just moved to SF so I didn't know that. I assume you're referring to Prop 13? My understanding is that it's about property taxes, not land taxes. Possibly there is some legal wiggle room in there? Anyway, looks like there are other forms of value capture that may not run afoul of Prop 13! Thanks for pointing that out I learned something new today. :) http://iff.scag.ca.gov/Pages/ValueCapture.aspx http://iff.scag.ca.gov/Pages/ValueCapture.aspx http://www.transitwiki.org/TransitWiki/index.php?title=Value-capture_finance http://www.transitwiki.org/TransitWiki/index.php?title=Value...
  - dragonwriter 10y ago
    LVT are a form of property tax on real property; they differ from traditional ad valorem real property taxes in that they do not apply to the value of improvements, but were one to try to implement them in California, the Constitutional limits on real property taxation (Prop 13) would apply to them in the same way as it does to other real property taxes.
- WildUtah 10y ago