History has imposed a curious double standard on deliberations of tax alternatives. Most taxes are adopted because they raise revenue. Land taxes are rejected because they are no panacea. If they simply raise revenue without doing much damage they are a great improvement over what we have now. If they offer additional benefits, so . . . → Read More: Property Taxation and the Frequency of Urban Renewal
 Comments are closed  Essay  Land economics -- urban, Property taxation, Tax policy, urban development, urban expansion MOST OF OUR CENTRAL CITIES, as is now well known, are threatened by a vicious circle which is related to property taxation. As buildings become older, they tend to become fiscal deficits requiring more in cost than they return in taxes. As the central cities age, the buildings become old and fiscal-deficit generators. This . . . → Read More: A Tax Tool for Meeting Urban Fiscal Crisis Comments are closed Publication Deficits, Land economics -- urban, Politics, Property taxation, Tax policy, urban development, urban infrastructure Land is a major cost element of urban housing. Site values of improved urban lots are about 20 percent of the total value of new single unit dwellings. However, this ratio varies significantly between neighborhoods and regional areas in the United States. For example, for the third quarter, 1967, FHA data for proposed one-family . . . → Read More: Policies and Practices Affecting Urban Land Costs as an Element of Housing Costs Comments are closed Policy Paper, Publication Land economics -- urban, Land Rent, land value tax, Property taxation, Tax policy, urban development, Urban Economics The higher tax rate in cities drives investors elsewhere, both home builders and industry, because whoever puts un a new building under this state of affairs tends to become a fiscal surplus generator, and no one really wants to be that: it means you pay more in taxes than you get back in services. . . . → Read More: Mason Gaffney’s Testimony to the President’s Commission on Urban Problems Why should we want to contain cities? Some agriculturalists regard the answer as too obvious to require demonstration: cities are dangerously seductive, sterile and wicked, and, like the Soviets, belong behind a Curzon Line and cordon sanitaire. The Soil Conservation Service entertains the Malthusians with endless excursions and alarums over dangerous inroads on our . . . → Read More: Containment Policies for Urban Sprawl Comments are closed Publication Land economics -- agriculture, Land economics -- urban, Property taxation, Tax policy, urban expansion This essay raises thought-provoking questions, contains many challenging details, and steps on some toes. It will arouse disagreement and maybe controversy. Everyone will do well to attend closely to the compelling problems it discusses of harnessing urban land—a resource that “holds economic forces of titanic power for welfare or destruction.” “Urban Expansion — Will . . . → Read More: Urban Expansion – Will it Ever Stop? |