> High land appreciation taxes are essentially indistinguishable from Georgist LVT A capital gains tax is not “essentially indistinguishable” from a land value

> High land appreciation taxes are essentially indistinguishable from Georgist LVT A capital gains tax is not “essentially indistinguishable” from a land value tax if rents rise and the owner never sells the property. The owner gets to collect increased rents for as long as his family owns it, and even his heirs don’t have to pay the tax on transfer (since capital gains are untaxed on inheritance in America due to the step-up basis and apparently also for the Chinese Land Appreciation Tax). Kevin Erdmann has written a good series of articles on focusing on the rental value of land rather than only sales prices: “A Conceptual Starting Point for Housing Affordability and Public Policy” <https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/commentary/conceptual-starting-point-housing-affordability-and-public-policy https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/commentary/conceptual-starti...>