Thank You From a Land Speculator
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- Опубліковано 25 сер 2024
- Land is the most important resource a community has. But the property tax system in most U.S. cities encourages the wasteful and unproductive use of land. By taxing building improvements, we punish people who improve their property with higher taxes-and we reward speculators, who can afford to sit on a vacant or underutilized lot in a prime location, do nothing with it, and watch their property value go up... and up... and up.
And for that, in this video, your buddy the real-estate speculator just wants to say, "Thanks, neighbor."
There's a better alternative: a tax on the value of the land itself, rather than the buildings on it. To learn more, visit www.strongtowns.org/landtax
Imagine how much simpler and honest a tax on the land itself would be!
This is why I find it baffling that taxes are frequently leveraged on the asset value instead of the cost to service the space.
Um, unless I've misunderstood something, a land speculator has 0 (zero) costs as they are doing nothing with the land. So you'd tax n% of 0 and raise nothing, £0/€0, $0, or ¥0/₩0/Rs.0 etc. and he'd still be incentivised to do nothing with it and speculate on it...
Why maybe a small tax on Land Value (e.g. 5%) and a Tax on profits from Land (e.g. 5%) and unused (≈ speculated on) land gets double-rated on the Value (e.g. 5% instead of 2.5% or 10% instead of 5%) in lieu of the land profit tax that society/the People ain't earning? - With using land as a wildlife reserve getting treated as a use of course, so such lands of a landowning-farmer or landowner being charged at the same used land rate as his farmed land.?
Georgism in a shell nut
In Calgary there is a time limit.
thats dark
this is what my dad mitchell did in 2014 not far from our house
all he has to do is - go there once a month and mow the lawn and pay his local taxes
he's putting one of the blocks up for sale anyday now,i know he's going to make four times more + than what he paid for it
loved watching this cheeky video hehehe
rachel,sunshine coast queensland australia
Damn, and yet so many Strayans still either don’t even know about land value tax, or are instinctually and emotionally repulsed by the very idea because "tax bad" (but when asked about vat and income tax it’s crickets).
these land speculators should be placed in jail for all the economic harm they cause.
Just tax land lol
Georgism is the way.
Still paying interest on ya loan tho
Not if you bought with cashola
Georgism
Still have to pay real estate fees, property tax, someone has to cut the grass, shovel snow, even vacant land needs to be maintained somewhat in a city setting like the video pictured. Without maintenance you'd be fined from the city when the grass gets tall or the snow doesn't get shoveled. Not to mention you need to pay an insurance company, if someone uses the land and hurts themselves and you don't have insurance you will be in trouble.
There is risk involved and land doesn't always go up in value either. Let's say it's a small lot that is worth $10,000. Let's say property taxes and all other expenses are 200/month. That's $2,400 a year in expenses on average. Let's say in 10 years that $10,000 dollar lot has tripled in value. due to good location and a strong economy.
Let's say you list the property for $30,000. Get an offer for $28,000 after sitting on the market for a while so you take the $28k. Let's say it's a 3% commission on vacant land. That's $840. So annual expenses over 10 years are a total of $24,840. Which leaves a $3,160 dollar profit. Let's say you pay capital gains tax at the end of the year. Let's say it is 10% of your profit. $316 dollars goes to the government.
That leaves you a profit of $2,844 for a 10 year investment. If everything goes right. There are risks involved and if your risk earns you a profit you are entitled to it.
The neighbors building on their land, either purchased it from local owners or other investors. Their actions are independent from any current land owners and what they do with their land.
Now imagine you are a farmer with a 100 year old farm house and barn that has been in the family for generations. The farm next door the farmer dies and his children sell his land. Let's say a developer buys it and builds houses, work shops, restaurants, and other places of business. All these people now own a smaller piece of that farm. Their taxes are going to go up as they have improved the land with new buildings, sewers, and water and other infrastructure. The farmer who hasn't changed his life style and makes the same amount of money as always can't afford more taxes. As he hasn't made any changes to his land he shouldn't be taxed more just because a developer wanted to put in a sub division.
The farmers land will probably go up in value as other investors and developers now see this area as a place to develop since the infrastructure is now in place. If the government raised the taxes on the farmers, he would lose his land, or have to find another source of income to pay the taxes. If he couldn't afford the taxes, the government would auction off the land and an investor will get it at auction and he will sit on it and pay higher taxes until he can sell it for a profit in the future if he is lucky enough to do so. He took a risk by landing that a farmer lost because his taxes were raised. So raising taxes on land just because your neighbors make improvement to their land and their taxes go up isn't a situation that will work for everyone. Not every one can or will make improvements to their land.
Such a hypothetical is unlikely only if a city is sprawling out. But even still, if magically a city appeared around the farm. The farmer should sell
Create a tax exemption / special ordinance to reduce land tax for agricultural land. Problem solved.
"Can someone think of the rich?" Cry me a river.
The farmer in that example is asset-rich but cash-poor. I agree that real estate taxes should be based on land & buildings combined, not the land alone.
A revenue neutral switch from property taxes to land value taxes would result in both the overtaxation of farmland and the undertaxation of high-rise apartments.
imagine how much simpler and honest a NO TAX neither on houses or land would be!
Exactly. They portray the land speculator as a slimeball but taxes get real stupid and unfair the closer you look at them. But hey, that’s tax for ya
It would be dishonest because nobody would be paying for the community infrastructure that increases their real estate value.
the community could pay for that, pay a private company to do that, is the interest of everyone to keep the real state value@@bradvandyke3301
I’m not so sure that this land speculator, who is portrayed as a slimeball for some reason, is really making a nice return on his investment. Is the value of the land going up or is the purchasing power of the money going down? Oh and by the way, he has to pay “capital gains” tax on the future sale, but he can’t deduct inflation for some reason 🤔. What a joke.
And really, this video is pointing out a flaw in how property tax works so why protray the speculator as a slimeball? The closer you look into taxes the more unfair and rediculous it seems, and that’s because a tax is not voluntary, so let’s have less taxes.
And why should we argue for taxing land more??? Why give the local gov more money and power if we agree that they do everything terrible. Have they been good stewards, do they deserve more?? Let’s portray the gov and system as the incompetents that they are.
-The value of the land is going up due to surrounding development.
The video argues that property tax should be replaced by a land value tax. As the economist Milton Friedman said “it’s the least bad tax.”
Has HE been a good steward of "his" land? No, he didn't DO anything with it!