About this episode

The episode discusses the concept of land value tax and its implications for urban development and property taxation.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.volts.wtf/subscribe Property taxes are two taxes stapled together: one on the land, one on whatever gets built on it. Put up an apartment building and the bill goes up. Pave the lot for parking and it stays low. It discourages building and rewards land speculation. The answer? Tax the buildings less and the land more. The idea of a “land value tax” goes back 150 years, but implementing it today involves navigating tricky constitutional issues. In this episode, I talk with Greg Miller of the Center for Land economics about the rationale for such taxes, and with Kitty Klitzke, a Spokane, Washington council member, about the difficulties of putting it in practice in a real city. Chapters: 00:00 Introduction 03:22 Henry George and the case for taxing land 08:12 How property taxes work now, and what a split rate changes 11:26 Land value taxes and upzoning as complements 15:18 The Pennsylvania record and the reassessment problem 18:51 Vancouver, and why homeowners outlast the policy 24:03 Estonia, Singapore, and the Scottish Islands 26:53 Washington's uniformity…

People in this episode

Host: David Roberts

Guests: Greg Miller, Kitty Klitzke

Topics covered

• land value tax
• urban infill
• property taxes
• land speculation
• local government
• tax policy

Keywords

• land value tax
• property taxes
• urban sprawl
• infill development
• local government policy
• tax reform
• land economics

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Center for Land economics

Places: Spokane, Pennsylvania, Vancouver, Estonia, Singapore, Scottish Islands, Washington

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