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If society is to underwrite the risk then society should collect when times are good. If we taxed land, landlords would long get the rent for the building, whi
by amiga_500 7y ago
If society is to underwrite the risk then society should collect when times are good.
If we taxed land, landlords would long get the rent for the building, which would be far, far less, as most of the rent in prominent locations is due to the location.
If we had land value tax the govt could have reduced LVT for the duration of the crisis, leaving businesses only paying for the far smaller amount of the building.
- dahdum 7y agoReducing the LVT would have been effectively a grant, a real cost to the government that needed to covered by all taxpayers. Issuing them secured loans to carry them through this would not.
- amiga_500 7y agoAgreed, but there is a real cost to be borne, I don't think we can evade that. However LVT would have provided a quick and relatively fair way to reduce ground rent by N% across the board. Ratcheting it back up if/when "business as usual" resumes would also be easy. My main point is that as the "underwriter" the state should also be the beneficiary, as society creates the location value, not the landlord.