tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4153985804832811048.post1885167992672388104..comments2024-03-18T16:22:10.302-04:00Comments on Urban kchoze: City taxes as urban growth policies: choosing the taxes that get you the city you wantsimval84http://www.blogger.com/profile/10615053214354191224noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4153985804832811048.post-36038612743211125802019-03-09T02:25:17.264-05:002019-03-09T02:25:17.264-05:00hey Suzan, thanks for prompting me to check in to ...hey Suzan, thanks for prompting me to check in to this great blog.<br />and simval84:<br />Regarding Henry George and urban design, have you checked out the many references in the book "Radical Markets" by Weyl and Posner?<br />There is a Conference coming up where we could use the insights of this blog:<br />https://radicalxchange.org<br />March 22-24th<br /><br />I'd love to meet you there-<br />I'll be on a Panel on Saturday.<br /><br />best,<br />JoeLhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06690605320932131151noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4153985804832811048.post-92081084098188138232016-08-23T13:37:20.111-04:002016-08-23T13:37:20.111-04:00to Simval84,
Thanks for the great work. It is enli...to Simval84,<br />Thanks for the great work. It is enlightening to see an engineering mind focused on livability. So often we think engineering is only for roadwork numbers, when it is often the roadways that determine how we go about our day-to-day lives.<br /><br />We are building ways to eliminate "Zoning-by-Function" and replace it with livability minded transportation regulations. Your work is a huge help.<br /><br />And Police Boxes too!<br /><br />Joe Lambke<br />animatearchitecture.comLhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06690605320932131151noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4153985804832811048.post-52451919871097901772016-08-01T20:19:48.631-04:002016-08-01T20:19:48.631-04:00Excellent analysis by both the author and commenta...Excellent analysis by both the author and commentators.Rick Rybeckhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18272099706057922149noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4153985804832811048.post-50606359075555533092016-07-31T20:41:54.205-04:002016-07-31T20:41:54.205-04:00Property transfer taxes also fall upon people who ...Property transfer taxes also fall upon people who have to move frequently for their jobs. Economically speaking, making moving more expensive is always going to hurt the economy's ability to coordinate human resources with labor needs. People can rent, maybe, but in a lot of markets, renting means settling for a crappy old building, new apartments built to modern standards are often condos.<br /><br />Frontage taxes do indeed encourage narrow houses, but I don't know if that's the case in Japan. Frontage taxes often tend to result in deep but narrow lots, Japan has instead shallow lots, with streets on average being separated by about 40 meters only. I do know that at one time in Europe, there were taxes on the number of windows and doors, based on the idea the rich would have more of them, which resulted in buildings that were really horrible to live in, because developers would build as few windows as possible. I didn't talk about it in this article, but this is an archaic tax that was invented because it was simpler to apply without massive bureaucracy. No one supports using these taxes anymore.<br /><br />As to bus lines, I think it is a really bad idea to fund bus lines that way. A bus line doesn't only serve the street it travels on, but all side streets, furthermore, you don't want to tax locations that are transit-friendly, especially in places where transit is not dominant and where developers would react by simply favoring streets without bus lines. Such a system would also result in massive local opposition to new bus lines if they came with an increase in tax.simval84https://www.blogger.com/profile/10615053214354191224noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4153985804832811048.post-37160798595954029212016-07-31T15:57:58.016-04:002016-07-31T15:57:58.016-04:00Property transfer taxes tend to fall most heavily ...Property transfer taxes tend to fall most heavily on speculators. In Washington, DC, they are actually funding affordable housing developments and vouchers.<br /><br />I love frontage taxes. It's how they got those narrow houses in the Netherlands and Japan. Do you think they could also be used for transit? Say a bus line goes down the street, would a frontage tax be a sensible method of supporting the bus line?Matthew M. Robare https://www.blogger.com/profile/01238656296410351634noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4153985804832811048.post-79812465132576870342016-07-26T20:21:05.686-04:002016-07-26T20:21:05.686-04:00Historically there was a bit of a compensating fac...Historically there was a bit of a compensating factor for corner lots, like only counting the frontage on the street the front door faced. However, corner lots are more valuable for commercial uses, hence the corner store, or the small apartment block. That adds variety and also better pays for the dual frontage. After all, why should a crappy gas station or small single story house benefit through lower taxes even though they have twice (or more) as much street and sidewalk?<br /><br />The same goes for the flag or panhandle lot. The better way to think about it is not that the person in back is making out like a bandit, but that the two properties are benefitting from lower assessment due to the fact that one big lot was sub divided into two. It does however illustrate one situation where going to *only* a frontage tax wouldn't be the best situation, but that it's another taxing type to add to the toolbox in addition to a land tax, with proper readjusting of the rates. Jeffrey Jakucykhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04092631645389171565noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4153985804832811048.post-1413926972310501202016-07-26T19:26:52.894-04:002016-07-26T19:26:52.894-04:00Question: If we go with a street frontage tax, the...Question: If we go with a street frontage tax, then what should we do about corner lots? Why would any person buy a corner lot when they are going to be paying basically double the property tax?<br /><br />The other potential complication I noticed would be flag lots. Should a person be subject to lower property taxes, just because their house is in the back?Kamorohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15211800513912665084noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4153985804832811048.post-35194553824726579872016-07-26T14:15:17.145-04:002016-07-26T14:15:17.145-04:00There are two main reasons to have a land transfer...There are two main reasons to have a land transfer tax.<br />1. A significant amount of public record keeping is required for land transfers, thus the tax as user fee argument applies. However, this cost is far below a typical land transfer fee.<br />2. To reduce land price speculation and price volatility. Reducing volatility is especially important given how housing prices are tied to the life savings of many people. Land value taxation is a better tool to achieve this effect.fbfreehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05055354576439140125noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4153985804832811048.post-7936090676038177402016-07-26T12:21:34.179-04:002016-07-26T12:21:34.179-04:00What I like about simply changing the land vs. imp...What I like about simply changing the land vs. improvement taxation is that you can start it out so total tax receipts don't change. That makes what would likely be a tough political move a bit more palatable. I never thought of adding a frontage tax as a separate thing. Historically I believe it was the only type of property tax, though levied in different ways in different cities (I believe Charleston, SC calculated it based on the built frontage of the occupiable part of the building, leading to very narrow buildings with open side porches and side gardens). Still, with the numbers massaged to allow other taxes to be reduced all the better. <br /><br />It's sort of like the argument about gas taxes versus vehicle mile taxes. It shouldn't be an either-or argument. You need both. One to pay for the roads, and another to pay for the externalities of gas usage (pollution, regulation, military protectionism, etc.). By using both, you ensure that hybrids and electric vehicles aren't getting a free ride, but they're still benefiting over gas guzzlers too. Jeffrey Jakucykhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04092631645389171565noreply@blogger.com