"Making something with the resource" must include having the foresight to preserve it from others who would have consumed it for a less valuable use. The "unimp

"Making something with the resource" must include having the foresight to preserve it from others who would have consumed it for a less valuable use. The "unimproved value" is what it would have been worth if left unclaimed—not the market value of the land in the actual situation where it was claimed and preserved. The difference between those two prices is earned value even if it doesn't take the form of formal "improvements" built on the land. However, under that definition there essentially is no such thing as "unimproved value"—unclaimed and unpreserved land would quickly become unusable for any purpose—and the proper LVT assessment in the vast majority of cases would be zero, or else so low as to not be worth collecting.