<story><title>Make More Land</title><url>https://www.jefftk.com/p/make-more-land</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>leetcrew</author><text>I tend to lean libertarian on most issues, but I am starting to think it just doesn&amp;#x27;t make very much sense for people to own land privately. it&amp;#x27;s one of the only things in the world that is truly scarce (ie, you can&amp;#x27;t make more plots in the upper east side), and the value of land tends to be based much more on improvements to the surrounding area than improvements to the land itself. also, land ownership seems to lead to all sorts of perverse incentives to lobby for laws that distort the housing market.&lt;p&gt;sometimes I wonder if it wouldn&amp;#x27;t be better to take a snapshot of all property values at a certain point in time, pay out the owners at the current value, and switch land over exclusively to long term leases from the government (where the lessee is allowed to sublet).</text></item><item><author>marvin</author><text>Here&amp;#x27;s the biggest objection, that would hold true for many expensive areas of the Western world, and any policy that will dramatically increase the supply of real estate:&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;I own property here, and if we do this, the value of my property will fall. Therefore, we shouldn&amp;#x27;t do it&amp;quot;.&lt;p&gt;This is the real motivation, but bring up some environmental concerns, something about retaining the character of the area, something about ensuring that the area won&amp;#x27;t be mobbed by new inhabitants, just to make the argument plausible. Then vote.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>isostatic</author><text>A land value tax, where you pay for the value of the land. Society builds a new subway stations near you, and land increases 20%, you pay 20% more tax. Society puts a power plant on your doorstep, land drops 40%, and you pay 40% less tax.&lt;p&gt;What you do with that land is irrelevent - you pay the same whether you have a small house on a 15 story building on it.</text></comment>
<story><title>Make More Land</title><url>https://www.jefftk.com/p/make-more-land</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>leetcrew</author><text>I tend to lean libertarian on most issues, but I am starting to think it just doesn&amp;#x27;t make very much sense for people to own land privately. it&amp;#x27;s one of the only things in the world that is truly scarce (ie, you can&amp;#x27;t make more plots in the upper east side), and the value of land tends to be based much more on improvements to the surrounding area than improvements to the land itself. also, land ownership seems to lead to all sorts of perverse incentives to lobby for laws that distort the housing market.&lt;p&gt;sometimes I wonder if it wouldn&amp;#x27;t be better to take a snapshot of all property values at a certain point in time, pay out the owners at the current value, and switch land over exclusively to long term leases from the government (where the lessee is allowed to sublet).</text></item><item><author>marvin</author><text>Here&amp;#x27;s the biggest objection, that would hold true for many expensive areas of the Western world, and any policy that will dramatically increase the supply of real estate:&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;I own property here, and if we do this, the value of my property will fall. Therefore, we shouldn&amp;#x27;t do it&amp;quot;.&lt;p&gt;This is the real motivation, but bring up some environmental concerns, something about retaining the character of the area, something about ensuring that the area won&amp;#x27;t be mobbed by new inhabitants, just to make the argument plausible. Then vote.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>amalcon</author><text>I&amp;#x27;ve heard the argument that this is what property taxes are (usually as means to oppose property taxes).  What practical thing would you expect to change, that&amp;#x27;s different from just raising property taxes?</text></comment>