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Henry George had it right: Use land value tax to fund UBI. Abracadabra, all the birds get killed with one stone: Real estate prices calm down, income inequality
by megameter 6y ago
Henry George had it right: Use land value tax to fund UBI. Abracadabra, all the birds get killed with one stone: Real estate prices calm down, income inequality calms down, environmental costs are valued into use, and poverty is eliminated.
- monadic2 6y agoOr, just abolish any ownership of property except demonstrated by active personal (or organizational) use. We could have been planning cities decades ago and avoided the current real estate hellscape.
- ethanbond 6y agoOr don’t do any of that, create a ridiculously simple tax (LVT) that has no dead weight loss, incurs no inefficiency, distorts no prices, reduces no ones freedoms, has no additional overhead (these values are already assessed/taxed in many places), and get all the same benefits.
- monadic2 6y agoSure but then you have to deal with a real estate market resulting in irrational collective decision making. Also, by all observation, the market is restricting the freedom of people to live under a roof in their own city.
- ethanbond 6y agoThis system creates no collective decision making nor does it restrict any freedoms. If you believe that it does, you should look further into the LVT proposal.
- refurb 6y agoSo grandma who lives on a lot with a single family home gets a $50,000 annual tax bill to incentivize the building of a 400 unit apartment building?
- rcpt 6y agoSo tax cuts for every successful property investor because grandma is a successful property investor?
- refurb 6y agoSome people seem to suggest that but I don’t. Only calling out the problem with taking someone’s property tax and increasing it 5-10x.
- rcpt 6y agoIf their property went up 5-10x that's a huge win for them.
- refurb 6y agoBut that’s not the discussion. A land value tax captures pretty much all the value of the land. So a prime spot in a major city might cost $500,000 but have annual property taxes of $100,000. The goal is to make the land unattractive unless you optimize the use of the land and build high density.
- rcpt 6y ago> The goal is to make the land unattractive unless you optimize the use of the land and build high density. That's right and it should be that way. The value of the land is a function of the success of the local community - it shouldn't be captured by a private investor while workers continue to pay income taxes to service and improve that land. But if your only objection is that elderly/disabled landowners shouldn't be pressured to pay taxes many states already have laws like that in place, eg https://www.state.nj.us/treasury/taxation/ptr/ https://www.state.nj.us/treasury/taxation/ptr/
- tornato7 6y agoYeah, this is currently a big problem with property tax in some places and a land value tax would only make it worse. I think it would accelerate the move to big multi-story apartment buildings that can get more revenue per sq.ft of land. Which I guess if you're worried about the housing crisis could be a good thing.
- jay_kyburz 6y agoGradually increase tax on rental income until its undesirable to own property you don't live in.
- lovetocode 6y agoYou are assuming people actually make money on rental properties. I have had 3 rental properties and you don’t make a profit until the mortgage is paid off which is practically never. What you propose would hurt more people than it helps.
- wappa 6y agoIt's disingenuous to claim you are not making money as landlord. You are building equity - maybe your monthly profits are 0 early on, but your total value is increasing m/m. You can sell your rental property once your mortgage is paid off. If you back calculate your monthly profit is essentially ~ (selling price) / months owned.