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An LVT would need relatively few exceptions and rules in order to function well and is unavoidable by design. What we have right now for most taxes is the exact
by pydry 1y ago
An LVT would need relatively few exceptions and rules in order to function well and is unavoidable by design. What we have right now for most taxes is the exact opposite of that - e.g. with sales, income taxes, etc.
Mostly there are just pearl clutchers complaining about how elderly cash poor people sitting in large old houses on expensive land they've lived in for 20 years would be financially nudged into downgrading.
The real roadblock for LVT is not in the slightest bit technical, but simply that it would undermine a lot of privately held oligarchic wealth.
- kemotep 1y agoLand owners make up a plurality of voters. In some cases those land owners are retirees living in a house they bought 45 years ago others are people who own 500 houses. The land value tax “equally” punishes them for their inefficient land usage. But at some point we need to pay our fair share on taxes and the later group hiding behind the former group is how you end up with California’s dumpster fire of a housing crisis.
- daveguy 1y agoI agree with this. I really do not know why in the hell one person or entity owning 500 houses wouldn't pay more in taxes for the 500th house than the 1st house. You pay more income tax on the 500,000th dollar than the first dollar. Land is taxed regressively in favor of oligarchs. First house is claimed as homestead and gains on sale aren't taxed, but the yearly property tax should work similarly.
- bluGill 1y agoWhere I live homestead status affects yearly taxes as well. This is a negative for anyone who is renting since they now have to pay more rent to cover those taxes. (taxes set a floor on rent long term, though of course tax is only one factor in rental prices)
- ifyoubuildit 1y ago"Mostly there are just pearl clutchers complaining about how elderly cash poor people sitting in large old houses on expensive land they've lived in for 20 years would be financially nudged into downgrading" I wonder if you wouldn't be clutching your pearls if you were being forced (sorry, "financially nudged") out of your home of 20 years? These cash poor elderly folks aren't exactly "oligarchic".
- sealeck 1y agoThey can move somewhere cheaper? And then the high value land can be used more productively (e.g. higher density occupancy).
- sokoloff 1y ago“Beat it, grandma! We have better ideas on how to use the land and house you raised a family in!” is unlikely to be a winning campaign platform. (Thankfully.)
- DangitBobby 1y agoAll my homies like to let perfect be the enemy of the good.
- sokoloff 1y agoIs forcing grandma out of her house economically the perfect or the good in this story?
- DangitBobby 1y agoIt would be the thing keeping a good system from being perfect, I believe. Are you not familiar with the idiom?
- pydry 1y agoCurrently renting retirees are forced out already if they dont pay their rent. Can you confirm that you wish to see this practice completely banned (i.e. no payment of rent) to prove that you're not taking a two faced stance on this issue? What we are talking about is different - a tax incentive to move to somebody who has benefitted from a large capital gain.