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The difference is that investment in a company can create “more company”, whereas investment in land can’t create more land.
by frankus 3mo ago
The difference is that investment in a company can create “more company”, whereas investment in land can’t create more land.
- jonahx 3mo agoYou can improve the land, build more units, replace an small old house with a 4 story apartment building, etc.
- estearum 3mo agoCorrect, which you should be rewarded for as a developer. I recommend 0% tax on improvements and 100% tax on land value.
- jonahx 3mo agoWithout land ownership, how is it decided who gets to develop what where?
- frankus 3mo agoThe most popular proposal (from Henry George) is to maintain individual land ownership, but impose a land-value tax that approaches 100% of the land rent. The result is that real estate basically sells for roughly what it would cost to rebuild whatever is built on the land. There is still a premium charged (in the form of LVT) to allocate access to desirable locations, but the revenue goes to the government/community instead of the previous owner. And the eliminating the incentive for land speculation should actually reduce overall costs.
- estearum 3mo agoI didn't say no land ownership. I said tax the gains of land ownership. Nothing changes about who decides what gets built etc.
- rootusrootus 3mo ago> investment in land can’t create more land But investment in housing can definitely create more housing, and that is by far the most common type of landlord.
- chadgpt3 3mo agoThen let's move all land ownership to the government and let landlords build housing on it
- cpburns2009 3mo agoThe landlords could then pay rents to the local government. We could call that landlord taxes or something and use that to fund local services with them. Wait...
- smallmancontrov 3mo agoProperty taxes are voted on by property owners under the steepest moral hazard while leases are actually competitive: this is the difference between the government capturing a minimal vs maximal fraction of the land rents. If you genuinely think there is little difference, why do you care so much about not switching to a lease system?
- supertrope 3mo agoChicago has relatively affordable housing purchase prices as property taxes are very high. The government has taxed away property appreciation. Unfortunately the deferred compensation promises they have made to public sector employees are coming due and further tax hikes are needed.
- estearum 3mo agoAs described above, a landlord is not a developer is not a property manager. Sometimes a single individual plays multiple roles, but that does not make them the same inseparable job.