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"Property taxes today generally consider both land and the buildings on them. But George understood something important: that taxing buildings to some degree discourages new building. Under a land tax, in contrast, a developer pays the same amount if the land is used for a parking lot, a single-family house, or a soaring skyscraper."
Buildings create income. Income pays taxes. You can't get blood from a stone.
And vacant lots produce nothing. That's the point - encourage land to be developed to its highest and best use instead of land banking and super low intensity parking lots that return nothing.
And vacant lots produce nothing. That's the point - encourage land to be developed to its highest and best use instead of land banking and super low intensity parking lots that return nothing.
Why do you think parking lots are not the best use of land? A paid parking lot can produce quite a bit of income if it is in the right area.
Why do you think parking lots are not the best use of land? A paid parking lot can produce quite a bit of income if it is in the right area.
setting aside issues of blight - a surface parking lot provides a de minimis amount of value. In fact, it's hard to imagine something that would return less value other than simply abandoning the lot altogether.
If you want to encourage development of a higher order, re-write the rules to do so.
setting aside issues of blight - a surface parking lot provides a de minimis amount of value. In fact, it's hard to imagine something that would return less value other than simply abandoning the lot altogether.
If you want to encourage development of a higher order, re-write the rules to do so.
Nope, surface parking is what attracts customers to stores which in turn generates revenue. People are willing to pay for surface parking in downtown and other places because driving is sometimes the best option for the day. Oak park, a burb has parking lots that generate revenue and the City of Chicago used to own them before they privatized them.
Parking lots near Metra station in one or two burbs of Chicago can have wait lists and people also pay for parking there. Heck there is paid parking for an Metra station not far from where I live and my area isn't that dense. Parking can generate plenty of revenue in the right instances.
And vacant lots produce nothing. That's the point - encourage land to be developed to its highest and best use instead of land banking and super low intensity parking lots that return nothing.
You don't develop anything without there being a demand for it. Owners don't usually sit on empty property for the fun of it, they sit on it because there's no demand for "highest, best use".
This plan is one which, if implemented will result in the total devastation of any green space, setbacks or bulk limits, totally destroying any sense of perspective in smaller towns (which are the locales George aims at). We've had elected officials here propose this a few times. They've all lost the next election.
The idea, which isn't feasible, is that owners will build-anything- to avoid high tax rates. Just as a note, this idea is one contributor to sprawl-tax farmland at developed rates to encourage the farmers to sell out to developers.
Don't you get tired trotting out discredited ideas with no grounding in reality?
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