> We shouldn't use government to hurt people, and making someone's property too expensive to continue owning is definitely hurting them. But we are using gover

> We shouldn't use government to hurt people, and making someone's property too expensive to continue owning is definitely hurting them. But we are using government to hurt people — we are incentivizing (or worse, requiring) land owners to harm the surrounding community by not developing their property. A land value tax would simply shift some of the cost that is already burdening the rest of the community onto the unproductive property owners.