Site Value Taxation on Australia

A bstract . Site value taxation is neither a new nor a strictly western concept. Taxing land based on location was proposed in India around 300 B.C. François Quesnay, David Ricardo and John Stuart Mill were among the economists favoring land taxes but Henry George is credited with bringing it about in several areas, notably Australia. That subcontinent has experimented with the land tax on the national as well as the state and local levels but it is presently used only on the latter two. Empirical tests of the tax instrument are few. Pollock and Shoup (1977) forecast that eliminating the tax on improvements would increase investment levels by about 25 per cent in the long run. Hutchinson (1963) found great differences in house values and stocks. This study evaluates the effects of site value taxation on the basis of multivariate regression analysis. It finds strong evidence that, where improvements are relieved of taxation and more revenues are obtained from land values, the average value of housing is significantly higher and the value of the housing stock substantially larger.     

Neighborhood Revitalization and New Life: A Land Value Taxation Approach

When a neighborhood declines, the poor get poorer, crime rises, and those who can leave the area. The tax base shrinks, so the rates paid by those least able to pay increase. The prevailing system of a low tax on land values leads to land speculation and private land banking, assuring that the landowner can hold out for a very high price for a very long time. A higher tax on land values (coupled with reduction in building taxes) creates an incentive to sell that land or do something with it rather than waiting. In cities that use land‐value taxes, real‐estate markets start to work again and neighborhoods recover. Clairton, Pennsylvania's adoption of a land‐value‐taxation system demonstrates the neighborhood revitalization to which it leads, as owner‐occupied residences and multi‐family units saw a relief in their tax burden. In contrast, vacant properties' contribution to the city budget tripled, providing the resources to pay for the education of Clairton's children and liberate working and middle‐class families from the bonds of labor and capital taxation.     

Site Value Taxation in a Declining City

A bstract . The relationship is analyzed between the economic decline of a central city and the likelihood that a site value tax will be politically acceptable. Public choice and land use models are combined to generate a scenario of land use changes and changes in improvements to land ratios which determine whether a specific property owner will gain or lose from a revenue-neutral site value tax. A case study is presented which substantiates many of the effects suggested by the model. In general, private and public sector responses to a city's decline result in an atmosphere that is relatively hostile to site value taxation.     

On the “Lock-In” Effects of Capital Gains Taxation

The most important drawback of a tax on realized capital gains is its “lock-in” effect. This paper uses a simple land development model to examine the distortion that the lock-in effect generates. A surprising result is that the lock-in effect does not arise if the basis for the capital gains tax (usually the price at which the current owner acquired the land) is sufficiently high. Rather than delaying the sale, the owner sells the land as soon as possible even if the land will be developed much later. In this case, the capital gains tax creates no “real” distortion because it does not affect the development time. In particular, if the basis is the price formed under perfect foresight, the lock-in effect never arises.     

General Property Reassessment: Relative Tax Impacts on Land and on Structures

A bstract . Many jurisdictions require periodic mass reassessment of real property to bring assessed values closer to market values and to reallocate tax burdens among property types. This paper examines the influence of general reassessment on the tax burden on land relative to that on improvements in Indiana, a state using elected local assessors, statewide mass reassessment on a regular cycle, and assessment of structures at hypothetical reproduction cost. Examination of data over the 1950-51 to 1974-75 period shows that economic growth and development reallocates property tax impact away from land: the share of land in the base declines and the effective rate paid on any given parcel of land declines. Reassessment adjusts these impacts. While reassessment increases the share of improvements in the total base, the readjustment for land is larger. From this analysis, the most recent mass assessment (1968) increased the land to improvement ratio by about 42 percent.     

The Economic Effects (Neutrality) of Taxes on Land

A bstract A recent review of the economic effects of land taxation by Steven Bourassa created the misleading impression that a tax on land will have pro-development or non-neutral effects where there are non pecuniary returns from land or where there are capital market imperfections preventing developers from obtaining all the land that they want for development This note argues that a tax on land value is generally neutral, and that this will be the case whether or not there are non pecuniary returns and capital market imperfections, provided that the existence and extent of the imperfections are independent of the tax     

The Impact of a Graded Tax on a Rural Area: A Case Study in Indiana County, Pa.

Abstract . The graded tax is a reform of the property tax which would tax land values at a higher rate than improvements in or on the land. What would be its impact on different types of rural owners of real property? A study of rural Indiana County, Pennsylvania, by William Ritter shows that the impact would vary according to the level of development the individual tract or parcel has undergone.     

The Revenue Potential of Site Value Tax: Extension and Update of General Equilibrium Model With Recent Empirical Estimates of Several Key Parameters

A bstract . Although appealing on the consideration of efficiency, the site ( land ) value tax has been dismissed by some economists as an unviable alternative to the local real estate tax on the ground that it cannot generate sufficient revenue. From earlier work based on a general equilibrium model, however, a switch from a real estate to an equal yield site value tax could result in an increase in equilibrium land prices (and hence the site value tax base). In particular, equilibrium land prices will rise with a site value relative to a real estate tax if: (L+K/L) > e_x. (f_L+ f_k)/f_k. s_x+ e_x. f_L Critical to that theoretical result are the magnitudes of several parameters including the percent land constitutes of total real estate value , (L + K/L), the elasticity of substitution, s_x, the elasticity of demand for real estate e_x, and the output elasticities, f_k and f_L. Based on recent empirical estimates of those parameters, the above stated condition holds.     

Public Spending, Land Taxes and Economic Growth: An Empirical Analysis of the Adequacy of Land as a Tax Base

Abstract . Site value taxation is often cited as desirable on efficiency grounds, but is all too often dismissed for alleged lack of revenue potential. This paper empirically tests the revenue adequacy of site value taxation. Revenue adequacy in this study is defined as the ability of the tax base to keep pace with community expenditure needs. The paper concludes that communities with higher than average rates of capital growth and with a relatively constrained land area will find land taxes when subsituted for present property taxes, quite adequate for future as well as present needs.     

Income taxes and urban spatial structure

This paper examines the impact of an income tax in a monocentric city where households equilibriate their allocation of time between work, commuting, and leisure. An increase in the income tax rate lowers the implicit value of time, and hence transportation costs. “Compensated equilibrium” comparative statics analysis shows that under certain conditions, this results in a larger, more dispersed urban area, with lower land rents at the city center and less population within any given distance from the center. The welfare effect of an income tax rate change is also studied, and an expression for the marginal excess burden is derived. The income tax produces welfare losses both because it induces substitution in favor of leisure and in favor of travel—the latter accompanied by excessive spatial dispersion and consumption of space. The marginal excess burden depends not only on the compensated demand elasticity for leisure, but also on that for space. Finally, the problem of benefit measurement for transportation projects in this tax-distorted spatial economy is examined. Benefit measures should be deflated to adjust for the fact that further transportation improvements lead to reduction of land use intensity, exacerbating the problem of spatial resource misallocation in an already excessively dispersed urban area.     

Taxation for Low Cost Wood Fiber*

Abstract . If forest industry taxation is to be put on a sound economic basis, the Federal Government, the largest land owner, should pay the same taxes as any other landowner, so that the social and economic effects of taxation are realized. Specialists report that the form of the property tax preferred for the taxation of the property of the forest industry, under most circumstances, is land value taxation, not the property tax based on income realized at some point In the future which presumed the continued existence of virgin forests. This paper recognizes that the forest industry now is based on harvests of tree crops and proposes a further development of the land value taxation principle in the form of a forest tax composed of a land value tax combined with a tax on tree growth which increases as growth as a percentage of volume growth decreases with the tree's increasing age.     

Housing as an asset and the effects of property taxation on the residential development process

A model of residential development is constructed recognizing the asset side of land and housing. The equilibrium process is characterized under the perfect foresight assumption, and the effects of a capital gains tax (both unanticipated and anticipated) and a tax on property values are examined.     

Land Value Taxation and Housing Development

A bstract . The effects of land value taxation on housing development are studied in three disparate cities: Pittsburgh, McKeesport, and New Castle, Pennsylvania. These places are examples of three different types of city: central city, suburban city , and relatively isolated city , respectively. Shifting taxes from buildings to land is hypothesized to have different effects in the different types of cities. A liquidity effect , due to increases in the land tax rate , is expected to operate in all three types of cities. An incentive effect , due to decreases in the tax rate on improvements , is expected to function in central cities and, possibly, in relatively isolated cities. It is not expected to be important in suburban cities such as McKeesport. An incentive effect was found in Pittsburgh, but not in the other two cities. No evidence of a liquidity effect was found in any of the three cities. An explanation of why observed effects may not conform with hypotheses is given.     

Political Economy of Property Tax Reform: Hawaii's Experiment with Split‐Rate Property Taxation

Economic theory suggests that switching from a general property tax to a split‐rate tax increases land use efficiency and stimulates urban core development while preserving the environment and reducing urban sprawl. Under split‐rate property taxation, land is typically taxed at a significantly higher rate than improvements. Beginning in 1965 Hawaii experimented with a statewide split‐rate property tax system to encourage economic growth and effect land reform. The experiment was ended in 1977. Following the transfer of property taxing powers to the counties in 1978, some counties brought back the split‐rate property tax at times. Since 2006, Kauai County has adopted the unusual practice of taxing improvements at a higher rate than land for most property classes. This article chronicles and explains the rationale behind Hawaii's state and county experiments with split‐rate property taxation.     

Pennsylvania's Success with Local Property Tax Reform

A bstract Fifteen cities in Pennsylvania are pioneering an innovative approach to local tax reform that harnesses market incentives for urban renewal .
Opting for the so-called "two-rate" or "split-rate" property tax , these cities are lowering taxes on buildings, thereby encouraging improvements and renovations , while raising the tax on land values, thus discouraging land speculation . The resulting infill development as indicated by increased building permits means downtown jobs , efficient use of urban infrastructure, an improved housing stock, and less urban sprawl .
Cities in other states are poised to follow Pennsylvania's example.     

Site Value Taxation and Manvel's Land Value Estimates

Replacement of the existing property tax with a. tax on site value requires that the site value base be sufficiently large to generate the same revenue as the existing tax. The adequacy of the site value base is examined in view of Manvel's land value/property value estimates. The conclusion is that only partial replacement may be feasible in many cases, but this may still produce a desirable effect.     

Three-rate property taxation and housing construction

This paper examines the effect of property taxation on housing construction. In 2001, Finnish municipalities were allowed to levy an extra property tax on undeveloped land zoned for housing. Municipalities that adopted the new tax instrument have a three-rate tax property tax system with different tax rates on land before development, land after development and buildings. The remaining municipalities have a two-rate system with a uniform land tax and a building tax. A theoretical model of decisions by landowners suggests that the pre-development land tax ought to lead to faster development, but also the density of development may be affected. In the two-rate system land tax is neutral. The empirical results suggest that landowners respond to the tax incentives. Municipalities that adopted the three-rate property tax system saw an increase in single-family housing starts of roughly 12 percent.     

A Simple General Test for Tax Bias

A bstract .   The paper infers the biasing effects of taxes from their differential effects on the present values of rival uses for given tracts of land. After-tax wage rates, interest rates, and commodity prices are exogenous, hence not affected by taxes, which are therefore all shifted to land rents and values. The effects are differential among rival uses, hence change their ranking in the eyes of the landowner-manager. Most taxes downgrade the highest use into a lower use, inducing quantum leaps away from higher and better uses into lower and worse uses. The paper uses forestry as an allegory for all land uses. It compares yield taxes, property taxes, income taxes, and site value taxes. It finds that a change from the first three to the site value tax would induce quantum leaps from lower to higher uses of land.     

On Separating the Landowner's Earned and Unearned Increment: A Georgist Rejoinder to F. A. Hayek

On a given site, some increments of rent or land value may reflect improvements by the owner, either to it or to adjacent sites he or she also owns. Because these increments cannot always be distinguished with precision from the value arising from natural features and/or from improvements due to communal efforts, F. A. Hayek dismissed the Georgist paradigm as fatally flawed. This paper disputes Hayek's criticism on the following grounds: 1. As Professor Backhaus observed, the degree of certainty in measurement demanded by Hayek is more rigorous than that required in practice for enforceable tax assessment. 2. Under a Georgist-style system, landowners who improve their land would, in any case, get to keep much more of the fruits of their efforts than under any alternative public revenue system. 3. The distinction between value produced by the owner, on the one hand, and that produced by nature and society, on the other, remains authoritative as an ideal even if not perfectly realizable in practice; hence, there is a sense in which even the theoretical elegance of Georgism is not undercut by Hayek's criticism.     

Land Prices and Tax Policy: A Study of Fiscal Impacts

A bstract . Various tax measures are in use in efforts to control the level of land prices and to moderate changes in them. These are the site value, vacant land, increment value and transfer taxes. Analysis indicates that sufficiently heavy site value taxes can help stem the rise in land prices and that relatively heavy vacant land taxes can be used to encourage the development of certain urban land. Both instruments may bring forward the time of development. Both are perhaps the best tax tools for controlling speculation. Significant problems seem likely to attend the use of land value increment and transfer taxes applied at high rates. Non-tax alternative or complementary measures are also analyzed.