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I would suggest reading until the end. The author makes a number of recommendations on how this outcome can possibly be avoided (see header starting with "The s

I would suggest reading until the end. The author makes a number of recommendations on how this outcome can possibly be avoided (see header starting with "The solution is simple" and all the way through until the end of the piece).

anm89 5y ago
It's hard to make it to the end when the writing is so obnoxious. I certainly gave up before then.
TameAntelope 5y ago
Ah yes, the inevitable, "All we have to do is chop off our arms, and our torsos shall be saved from this terrifying poison ivy. I know, because I read 10 articles on WebMD about bubonic plague, and poison ivy looks a bit like that." argument that comes with every one of these articles. I did read the entire article, and I considered his solution to be wildly out of touch with reality, almost intentionally so to make the problem he outlines all the more drastic (surely the issue is serious if we have to take such extreme measures to end it).
larsiusprime 5y ago
Henry George's Land Value tax would be a much easier and simpler solution that would ultimately be more effective than all the stuff this guy is proposing. The reason house prices are going up is because land values are going up, and the reason land values are going up is because there's only so much land (by which I mean locations) in the world, particularly in places where people want to live, and as the population increases and as increased productivity pushes out the margin of productivity the rent goes up. So tax land. Use existing property tax regimes, shift taxes to land rather than buildings, and raise the rates so that it gets unprofitable to speculate on land and incentivize building as much stuff as possible. Also remove restrictive zoning ordinances and all the other usual YIMBY stuff.
- seanmcdirmid 5y ago
  Pure land taxes make it difficult to fund infrastructure that scales with population (eg schools). The only way that a land use tax could work is to either fund population based services differently or just assume that all land is used for high density apartments. Property tax and land use taxes do make speculation more expensive. In countries that lack property tax (eg China), speculation is much more of a problem than countries that do have such a tax.
  - AstralStorm 5y ago
    Infrastructure can be easily made exempt by law - government need not pay taxes to itself. (Unless you are trying for anarchocapitalism, in which case you found a neat argument why it might have problems.) Otherwise I fail to see how having more tax income makes it harder to fund infrastructure investments.
    - seanmcdirmid 5y ago
      The issue is scaling and evenness. If the land tax is crushing, it will definitely pull in enough revenue, but the people will revolt so it shouldn’t be that. Now it has to be adjusted to somewhat fair, but since it isn’t geared towards the value of buildings on top, it isn’t related to infrastructure needs, so the money to fund those will probably have to at least partially come from other tax sources. And it’s not like we throw all the money into one pot and then distribute as needed (though maybe we should?). Property tax today scales with improvements, which are more correlated to infrastructure needs. That leads to unbalance as well, as richer districts can get more revenue while poorer ones (whose property are worth less) can starve.

anm89 5y ago

It's hard to make it to the end when the writing is so obnoxious. I certainly gave up before then.

TameAntelope 5y ago

Ah yes, the inevitable, "All we have to do is chop off our arms, and our torsos shall be saved from this terrifying poison ivy. I know, because I read 10 articles on WebMD about bubonic plague, and poison ivy looks a bit like that." argument that comes with every one of these articles. I did read the entire article, and I considered his solution to be wildly out of touch with reality, almost intentionally so to make the problem he outlines all the more drastic (surely the issue is serious if we have to take such extreme measures to end it).

larsiusprime 5y ago

Henry George's Land Value tax would be a much easier and simpler solution that would ultimately be more effective than all the stuff this guy is proposing. The reason house prices are going up is because land values are going up, and the reason land values are going up is because there's only so much land (by which I mean locations) in the world, particularly in places where people want to live, and as the population increases and as increased productivity pushes out the margin of productivity the rent goes up. So tax land. Use existing property tax regimes, shift taxes to land rather than buildings, and raise the rates so that it gets unprofitable to speculate on land and incentivize building as much stuff as possible. Also remove restrictive zoning ordinances and all the other usual YIMBY stuff.

seanmcdirmid 5y ago
Pure land taxes make it difficult to fund infrastructure that scales with population (eg schools). The only way that a land use tax could work is to either fund population based services differently or just assume that all land is used for high density apartments. Property tax and land use taxes do make speculation more expensive. In countries that lack property tax (eg China), speculation is much more of a problem than countries that do have such a tax.
- AstralStorm 5y ago
  Infrastructure can be easily made exempt by law - government need not pay taxes to itself. (Unless you are trying for anarchocapitalism, in which case you found a neat argument why it might have problems.) Otherwise I fail to see how having more tax income makes it harder to fund infrastructure investments.
  - seanmcdirmid 5y ago
    The issue is scaling and evenness. If the land tax is crushing, it will definitely pull in enough revenue, but the people will revolt so it shouldn’t be that. Now it has to be adjusted to somewhat fair, but since it isn’t geared towards the value of buildings on top, it isn’t related to infrastructure needs, so the money to fund those will probably have to at least partially come from other tax sources. And it’s not like we throw all the money into one pot and then distribute as needed (though maybe we should?). Property tax today scales with improvements, which are more correlated to infrastructure needs. That leads to unbalance as well, as richer districts can get more revenue while poorer ones (whose property are worth less) can starve.