4 ms·

The Land Value Tax (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_value_tax https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_value_tax) should be considered: It's progressive. It's hard

The Land Value Tax (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_value_tax https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_value_tax) should be considered: It's progressive. It's hard to conceal/evade. It muffles speculation bubbles.

chongli 8y ago
The problem with this is that a huge amount of wealth today is not in the form of land, it's in the form of capital (physical, cash, and equities) and a lot of that is located off-shore. Yes, the Apple UFO campus is extremely valuable land but it's a very tiny fraction of Apple's overall wealth.
- arethuza 8y ago
  Why not a War on Off-Shore? [NB I seem to remember that David Brin's novel Earth has something like this where WW3 is everyone-vs-Switzerland - or something like that].
- gwern 8y ago
  > The problem with this is that a huge amount of wealth today is not in the form of land, it's in the form of capital (physical, cash, and equities) That's a feature, not a bug, of the LVT. The entire point is to tax something which is inelastic and won't cause deadweight losses by people not creating it (capital like physical or equity, or human capital, or labor for that matter). We want there to be lots of that kind of capital.
- dredmorbius 8y ago
  Citation requested. (I've looked for wealth distribution by asset class. It's remarkably hard to find.)
  - myroon5 8y ago
    as of 2016: https://www.claconnect.com/-/media/cla-image-repository/general/illustrations_and_objects/the-investable-universe.jpg https://www.claconnect.com/-/media/cla-image-repository/gene...
rb808 8y ago
I do like taxes like this, but Property taxes are already really high in many states - its much higher than any other country in the world. It does have many downsides, esp if you lose your job or want to retire and stay near your family.
- dredmorbius 8y ago
  Most property taxes are assessed on improved value. LVT is assessed on unimproved value. The former discourages development & density, the latter encourages it.
cataphract 8y ago
It would also likely be deemed unconstitutional in the US unless apportioned between the states, as was the case of similar taxes in the 19th century. This would make it politically inviable, as the poorer states (where the land is less valuable) would need to have a higher rate.
streb-lo 8y ago
Georgism will rise again!

chongli 8y ago

The problem with this is that a huge amount of wealth today is not in the form of land, it's in the form of capital (physical, cash, and equities) and a lot of that is located off-shore. Yes, the Apple UFO campus is extremely valuable land but it's a very tiny fraction of Apple's overall wealth.

arethuza 8y ago
Why not a War on Off-Shore? [NB I seem to remember that David Brin's novel Earth has something like this where WW3 is everyone-vs-Switzerland - or something like that].
gwern 8y ago
> The problem with this is that a huge amount of wealth today is not in the form of land, it's in the form of capital (physical, cash, and equities) That's a feature, not a bug, of the LVT. The entire point is to tax something which is inelastic and won't cause deadweight losses by people not creating it (capital like physical or equity, or human capital, or labor for that matter). We want there to be lots of that kind of capital.
dredmorbius 8y ago
Citation requested. (I've looked for wealth distribution by asset class. It's remarkably hard to find.)
- myroon5 8y ago
  as of 2016: https://www.claconnect.com/-/media/cla-image-repository/general/illustrations_and_objects/the-investable-universe.jpg https://www.claconnect.com/-/media/cla-image-repository/gene...

rb808 8y ago

I do like taxes like this, but Property taxes are already really high in many states - its much higher than any other country in the world. It does have many downsides, esp if you lose your job or want to retire and stay near your family.

dredmorbius 8y ago
Most property taxes are assessed on improved value. LVT is assessed on unimproved value. The former discourages development & density, the latter encourages it.

cataphract 8y ago

It would also likely be deemed unconstitutional in the US unless apportioned between the states, as was the case of similar taxes in the 19th century. This would make it politically inviable, as the poorer states (where the land is less valuable) would need to have a higher rate.

streb-lo 8y ago

Georgism will rise again!