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0 pointsbrigandish3y ago0 comments

> I understand the benefits of LVT, but how do you solve this?

Georgism[1], which I'm fascinated by. One way to organise it is to ask people how much tax they're willing to pay, from which the land value can be derived (as that's the real point of assessing land value for someone who isn't willing to sell that's the real order of things). However, if someone bids on the land for that price you must sell.

> Are there any good examples of governments that use LVT in practice?

I thought there were only one or two places using LVT but it appears there are quite a few[2], but it's rarely pure LVT.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgism

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_value_tax#Implementation

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TheMechanist3y ago

> One way to organise it is to ask people how much tax they're willing to pay, from which the land value can be derived (as that's the real point of assessing land value for someone who isn't willing to sell that's the real order of things). However, if someone bids on the land for that price you must sell.

Some people have very strange misconceptions about LVT & Georgism.

brigandishOP3y ago

Go on, I'm happy to be corrected, less so for people to make unhelpful asides.

TheMechanist3y ago

I think you should start by reading Progress and Poverty - here is a short review: https://astralcodexten.substack.com/p/your-book-review-progr...

The land with the highest value is city land. Most of city land and the buildings on that land are private property so they cannot be auctioned “every year”.

Singapore and Taiwan lease blocks of state-owned land for (high-rise) residence buildings for a duration of 99 years. This land is auctioned to developers, who then build houses and high rises, then sell them to individuals. The land lease ends after 99 years, so the land can be reused. This obviously does not capture the increase in the value of land over 99 years, but the value of land at the time of the sale.

So both states have taxes on land - a property tax in Singapore and a tax on the increment in the value of land in Taiwan, showing that it’s feasible to estimate the value of land and tax that (value of land = total value - value of improvements).

mlyle3y ago

> However, if someone bids on the land for that price you must sell.

But surely you have improvements on the land and friction from moving...

I like LVTs, but there's some significant devils in the implementation details.

brigandishOP3y ago

I agree, I often think about such things and wonder if they'd work as this hasn't been tried. I'm wary of taking the road to Hell with my "good" intentions/ideas.

For the improvements on the land bit, you could project at the beginning of the year what you think the land will be worth by the end of the year, due to planned improvements. That locks in the value for the year.

I can see problems with that too, but the real question is would those problems be worse or better than the problems we have now?

mlyle3y ago

But the idea with a land value tax is you tax the value of the land, and not any property on it. So it's not just improvements added in a year, but any improvements residing on the property.

If the land is worth $100, and your house is worth $200-- it's worth $300 to you. But a LVT should just be taxing that $100.

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0 pointsbrigandish3y ago0 comments

> I understand the benefits of LVT, but how do you solve this?

> Are there any good examples of governments that use LVT in practice?

I thought there were only one or two places using LVT but it appears there are quite a few[2], but it's rarely pure LVT.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgism

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_value_tax#Implementation

0 comments

TheMechanist3y ago

Some people have very strange misconceptions about LVT & Georgism.

brigandishOP3y ago

Go on, I'm happy to be corrected, less so for people to make unhelpful asides.

TheMechanist3y ago

I think you should start by reading Progress and Poverty - here is a short review: https://astralcodexten.substack.com/p/your-book-review-progr...

The land with the highest value is city land. Most of city land and the buildings on that land are private property so they cannot be auctioned “every year”.

mlyle3y ago

> However, if someone bids on the land for that price you must sell.

But surely you have improvements on the land and friction from moving...

I like LVTs, but there's some significant devils in the implementation details.

brigandishOP3y ago

I agree, I often think about such things and wonder if they'd work as this hasn't been tried. I'm wary of taking the road to Hell with my "good" intentions/ideas.

I can see problems with that too, but the real question is would those problems be worse or better than the problems we have now?

mlyle3y ago

But the idea with a land value tax is you tax the value of the land, and not any property on it. So it's not just improvements added in a year, but any improvements residing on the property.

If the land is worth $100, and your house is worth $200-- it's worth $300 to you. But a LVT should just be taxing that $100.

1 more reply

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse