Sure, any increase in land tax is contingent with reduced taxes in other areas. Interesting this was precisely the recommendation of the State Government Review on Business Taxes (2001 iirc) which suggested getting rid of stamp duties, various property duties etc. Even the real estate industry supported it!
If we were to appropriately tax just the unimproved value of the land, this would seem to be good for me, as I own a small piece of land, and bad for the owners of homes on larger parcels... or would it?
Depending on the location; which does lead to that zoning discussion. In the Australian experience the strongest advocates of land tax have been country people, who actually have larger plots - but because the land is "improved" by their work, they invariably see the benefit of reducing taxes on their labour.
Zoning is an interesting one because in part it is justified as land use has to be negotiated with neighbours (I can't imagine people being terribly happy with a nuclear waste facility next door to a kindergarten), but in part they act like a land monopoly by excluding areas from use. It's less of a land tax than a labour/capital tax because it limits the type of production that can occur.
Some guy named Smith
Yeah, that was pretty classic :-)
Sure, any increase in land tax is contingent with reduced taxes in other areas. Interesting this was precisely the recommendation of the State Government Review on Business Taxes (2001 iirc) which suggested getting rid of stamp duties, various property duties etc. Even the real estate industry supported it!
If we were to appropriately tax just the unimproved value of the land, this would seem to be good for me, as I own a small piece of land, and bad for the owners of homes on larger parcels... or would it?
Depending on the location; which does lead to that zoning discussion. In the Australian experience the strongest advocates of land tax have been country people, who actually have larger plots - but because the land is "improved" by their work, they invariably see the benefit of reducing taxes on their labour.
Zoning is an interesting one because in part it is justified as land use has to be negotiated with neighbours (I can't imagine people being terribly happy with a nuclear waste facility next door to a kindergarten), but in part they act like a land monopoly by excluding areas from use. It's less of a land tax than a labour/capital tax because it limits the type of production that can occur.