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> the government allows real estate monopolists/speculators to harvest land rent since we don't have a land value tax. Huh? I write a check for many thousands
by tatersolid 8y ago
> the government allows real estate monopolists/speculators to harvest land rent since we don't have a land value tax.
Huh? I write a check for many thousands of dollars every six months, based on the assessed value of my home and land.
We absolutely have “land value” tax in the USA, it’s just collected by the states in most cases.
- zzzzzzzza 8y agoProperty taxes are not land value taxes, and there's a difference between a halfway land value tax and a full on land value tax where 100% of the natural rent of land is collected (that is, all the external value generated by the surrounding community is harvested by the government instead of rent seekers). It helps to know how (to simplify) a land value tax is assessed. The gov buys random property, demolishes the building, then sells that property on the open market and uses those data points to calculate a gradient. Then an arbitrarily high tax is imposed on the calculated value (e.g. 100%). It (in the long run) doesn't matter how high the tax is as long as it is high enough to capture all land rent, given current market assessed land values, since the price of land will simply adjust to the higher tax (a 400% tax could easily be levied). When such a tax is levied, no one will buy land except those that have a use for it, that is no land speculation/monopoly can occur. If you have more questions I would recommend asking e.g. the georgism subreddit.