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The main downside is that you end up essentially kicking people out if their land gets too valuable. You can always provide an exception though, for a primary

The main downside is that you end up essentially kicking people out if their land gets too valuable. You can always provide an exception though, for a primary residence where the increase in taxes would be burdensome on the owner's income.

caminante 3y ago
Doesn't that happen already at the margins, albeit not quite as fast if someone's "land rich"? On the flipside, I bet there are locales where the buildings have a lot of improvements with multi-story dwellings and the land tax could be worse. The article goes into detail about why this tentatively works for Detroit where the majority of tax bills will decrease.
notatoad 3y ago
the exceptions essentially nullify the point of the land value tax though. the whole point of an LVT is to aknowledge that land is a valuable resource to the community at large, and using it ineffectively is a harm to the community and should be discouraged through taxation. every exception you make not only removes the incentive, but then creates an incentive to not change the usage of that land to something more beneficial, because the people who've received the exception don't want to give it up.
- TulliusCicero 3y ago
  It reduces the impact of the land tax, it doesn't nullify it, because it would apply only to a minority of the land owning population -- likely a small minority.
- tzs 3y ago
  > the exceptions essentially nullify the point of the land value tax though Or they just time shift it until the person receiving the exception moves away and the property goes to someone without the exception.
waveBidder 3y ago
why are homeowners special in that regard? Why not guarantee renters a certain rent level? are they too poor?
eru 3y ago
So you would like to give tax breaks for those who put their home on especially valuable plots of land? The more valuable, the more of a break they get. If they manage to reduce their assessed income more, they get more of a break, too. Sounds a bit silly. You could give people a UBI equivalent to the median's persons LVT tax take (or first quartile from the bottom etc). That way the poorer people get a net payment from the LVT system. And you don't need to sniff in people's personal lives to determine which residence is their primary residence (if any) nor what would be burdensome.

caminante 3y ago

Doesn't that happen already at the margins, albeit not quite as fast if someone's "land rich"? On the flipside, I bet there are locales where the buildings have a lot of improvements with multi-story dwellings and the land tax could be worse. The article goes into detail about why this tentatively works for Detroit where the majority of tax bills will decrease.

notatoad 3y ago

the exceptions essentially nullify the point of the land value tax though. the whole point of an LVT is to aknowledge that land is a valuable resource to the community at large, and using it ineffectively is a harm to the community and should be discouraged through taxation. every exception you make not only removes the incentive, but then creates an incentive to not change the usage of that land to something more beneficial, because the people who've received the exception don't want to give it up.

TulliusCicero 3y ago
It reduces the impact of the land tax, it doesn't nullify it, because it would apply only to a minority of the land owning population -- likely a small minority.
tzs 3y ago
> the exceptions essentially nullify the point of the land value tax though Or they just time shift it until the person receiving the exception moves away and the property goes to someone without the exception.

waveBidder 3y ago

why are homeowners special in that regard? Why not guarantee renters a certain rent level? are they too poor?

eru 3y ago

So you would like to give tax breaks for those who put their home on especially valuable plots of land? The more valuable, the more of a break they get. If they manage to reduce their assessed income more, they get more of a break, too. Sounds a bit silly. You could give people a UBI equivalent to the median's persons LVT tax take (or first quartile from the bottom etc). That way the poorer people get a net payment from the LVT system. And you don't need to sniff in people's personal lives to determine which residence is their primary residence (if any) nor what would be burdensome.