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It's used as the primary source of funding for county and town level government in most parts of the USA already. Does it "work"? Like any other tax system, it

It's used as the primary source of funding for county and town level government in most parts of the USA already. Does it "work"? Like any other tax system, it has its pros and cons. But one of the big drawbacks I see to federalizing it is the extremely relative value of property from region to region. It even dwarfs the relative difference in income taxes for similar jobs in dissimilar places. Yeah, you could have weightings and such in the formulas, but then there's even more complexities like how you assess condos vs. Single family houses vs. Gated communties... property is a much more diverse asset, and I don't think our Congress would come to any kind of majority needed to legislate such a tax.

wffurr 5y ago
Property taxes in most of the United States are not land value taxes in the Georgist sense.
epistasis 5y ago
No, it is not. What is generally used is a property tax, not a land value tax. The difference is whether the tax is based in the value of the location, or whether improvements to the land are included. Economically, these behave very differently, and the percentage of the property tax is typically too low to tax away the land rents.
runnerup 5y ago
Ignoring the confusion over "property tax" vs "land-value tax" I think your complaint about: > extremely relative value of property from region to region would apply equally to income tax and sales tax. Is there some other tax that you feel doesn't have high variance between regions? You did note: > It even dwarfs the relative difference in income taxes for similar jobs in dissimilar places It may be worth noting that Mississippi has a per-capita GDP of $40,000 (income per person), whereas New York State is $90,000 per person. The median home sale price in Mississippi is $163,600 whereas in New York (state) it is $336,000. It would appear that the ratio between incomes-actually-worked matches the ratio between homes-actually-lived-in. Each are a bit over twice as high in New York as in Mississippi. As an aside, one of the benefits of property tax (especially over sales tax) is the relative stability of it. Property values don't change nearly as much year-to-year as consumer spending does. Therefore, school districts can more easily plan 5-to-10 year budgets when they derive their income from property taxes rather than sales taxes.

wffurr 5y ago

Property taxes in most of the United States are not land value taxes in the Georgist sense.

epistasis 5y ago

No, it is not. What is generally used is a property tax, not a land value tax. The difference is whether the tax is based in the value of the location, or whether improvements to the land are included. Economically, these behave very differently, and the percentage of the property tax is typically too low to tax away the land rents.

runnerup 5y ago

Ignoring the confusion over "property tax" vs "land-value tax" I think your complaint about: > extremely relative value of property from region to region would apply equally to income tax and sales tax. Is there some other tax that you feel doesn't have high variance between regions? You did note: > It even dwarfs the relative difference in income taxes for similar jobs in dissimilar places It may be worth noting that Mississippi has a per-capita GDP of $40,000 (income per person), whereas New York State is $90,000 per person. The median home sale price in Mississippi is $163,600 whereas in New York (state) it is $336,000. It would appear that the ratio between incomes-actually-worked matches the ratio between homes-actually-lived-in. Each are a bit over twice as high in New York as in Mississippi. As an aside, one of the benefits of property tax (especially over sales tax) is the relative stability of it. Property values don't change nearly as much year-to-year as consumer spending does. Therefore, school districts can more easily plan 5-to-10 year budgets when they derive their income from property taxes rather than sales taxes.