Public finance
This article is part of the series: Finance and Taxation
Taxation
Income tax  ·  Payroll tax CGT ·  Stamp duty  ·  LVT Sales tax  ·  VAT  ·  Flat tax Tax, tariff and trade Tax haven
Tax incidence
Tax rate  ·   Proportional tax Progressive tax  ·   Regressive tax Tax advantage
Taxation by country Australia • British Virgin Islands Canada • China • Colombia France • Germany • Hong Kong India • Indonesia • Ireland Netherlands • New Zealand Peru • Russia • Singapore Tanzania • United Kingdom United States • European Union  v • d • e  Tax rates around the world Tax revenue as % of GDP
Economic policy
Monetary policy Central bank  ·   Money supply Gold standard
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Policy-mix
Trade policy Tariff  ·   Trade agreement
Finance
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Land value taxation (LVT) (or site value taxation) is a tax that charges landholders a portion of the unimproved value of a site or parcel of land. Public finance is a field of economics concerned with paying for collective or governmental activities and with the administration and design of those activities The field of finance refers to the concepts of Time, Money and Risk and how they are interrelated Payroll tax generally refers to two kinds of taxes: Taxes which Employers are required to withhold from Employees Pay, also known as Withholding A capital gains tax (abbreviated CGT) is a Tax charged on Capital gains the profit realized on the sale of a non-inventory Asset that was purchased Stamp duty is a form of Tax that is levied on documents Historically a physical stamp (a Tax stamp) had to be attached to or impressed upon the document to denote A sales tax is a Consumption tax charged at the Point of purchase for certain goods and services Value added tax ( VAT) or goods and services tax ( GST) is a consumption Tax levied on value added. A flat tax (short for flat rate tax is a Tax system with a constant tax rate The tax tariff and trade laws of a political region State or Trade bloc determine which forms of consumption and production tend to be encouraged A tax haven is a place where certain Taxes are levied at a low rate or not at all In Economics, tax incidence is the analysis of the effect of a particular Tax on the distribution of economic welfare. In a Tax system and in Economics, the tax rate describes the burden Ratio (usually expressed as a Percentage) at which a business or person is A proportional tax is a Tax imposed so that the Tax rate is fixed as the amount subject to taxation increases A progressive tax is a Tax imposed so that the Tax rate increases as the amount subject to taxation increases A regressive tax is a Tax imposed in such a manner that the Tax rate decreases as the amount subject to taxation increases Tax advantage refers to the economic bonus which applies to certain accounts or Investments that are by Statute, tax-reduced tax-deferred or tax-free Personal income taxes See also Income tax in Australia Only the federal government imposes income taxes on individuals and this is the most significant source of Taxation in the British Virgin Islands is relatively simple by comparative standards photocopies of all of the tax laws of the British Virgin Islands would together amount to about 200 The level of Taxation in Canada is average among Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD countries Taxes provide the most important revenue source for the Government of the People's Republic of China. See Government of Colombia for a wider perspective of Colombian government See Government of France for a wider perspective of French government Taxes in Germany —being a Federal Republic —are levied by the federation ( Bund) the States ( Länder) as well as the HK Inland Revenue Ordinance Cap112 is one of Hong Kong's Ordinances Taxes in India are levied by the Central Government and the State Governments This article ls with Taxation in Indonesia or pajak. Definitions "Pajak" in Indonesian for Tax and taxes whereas " Perpajakan The system of Taxation in Ireland is broadly similar to the system of Taxation in the United Kingdom. The Netherlands has a rich history dealing with taxation predating the Romanic period. Taxation in New Zealand is collected at a national level by the Inland Revenue Department (IRD on behalf of the Government of New Zealand. The Income tax in Peru is collected by the Superintendencia Nacional de Administración Tributaria, best known as SUNAT. The Russian Tax Code is the primary tax law for the Russian Federation. Individual income tax in Singapore forms part of two main sources of Income tax, the other being Corporate taxes on companies In Tanzania the Income Tax Act 2004 came into effect in July 2004 Taxation in the United Kingdom may involve payments to a minimum of two different levels of government The central government ( Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs) Taxation in the United States is a complex system which may involve payment to at least four different levels of government and many methods of taxation Value added tax ( VAT) or goods and services tax ( GST) is a consumption Tax levied on value added. Comparison of Tax Rates around the world is a difficult and somewhat subjective enterprise This table lists countries by total 2005 Tax revenues (federal state and local as a percentage of GDP (Gross Domestic Product Economic policy refers to the actions that Governments take in the economic field. Monetary policy is the process by which the Government, Central bank, or monetary authority of a country controls (i the Supply of Money, A central bank, reserve bank, or monetary authority is the entity responsible for the Monetary policy of a country or of a group of member states In Economics, money supply, or money stock, is the total amount of money available in an Economy at a particular point in time The gold standard is a monetary system in which a region's common media of exchange are paper notes that are normally freely convertible into pre-set fixed quantities of Gold Fiscal policy, taking the scope of Budgetary policy, refers to government policy that attempts to influence the direction of the economy through changes in government taxes Government spending or government expenditure is classified by economists into three main types A budget deficit occurs when an Entity (often a Government) spends more Money than it takes in Government debt (also known as public debt or national debt) is Money (or credit) owed by any level of government either Central government Trade is the willing exchange of goods, services, or both Trade is also called Commerce. For other uses of this word see Tariff (disambiguation. A tariff is a tax imposed on goods when they are moved across a political boundary A trade pact is a wide ranging Tax tariff and trade pact that often includes Investment guarantees The field of finance refers to the concepts of Time, Money and Risk and how they are interrelated In Economics, a financial market is a mechanism that allows people to easily buy and sell ( Trade) financial Securities (such as stocks and bonds There are two basic financial market participant categories Investor vs Corporate finance is an area of Finance dealing with the financial decisions Corporations make and the tools and analysis used to make these decisions Personal finance is the application of the principles of Finance to the monetary decisions of an individual or family unit Public finance is a field of economics concerned with paying for collective or governmental activities and with the administration and design of those activities Financial regulations are a form of Regulation or supervision which subjects Financial institutions to certain requirements restrictions and guidelines aiming to A banker or bank is a Financial institution whose primary activity is to act as a payment agent for customers and to borrow and lend money Fractional-reserve banking is the banking practice in which Banks keep only a fraction of the value of their Bank notes and demand deposits in reserve Full-reserve banking is the Banking practice in which the full amount of each depositor's funds are available in reserve at the bank when each depositor Free banking is a theory of Banking in which commercial banks and market forces control the provision of banking services Islamic banking refers to a system of banking or banking activity that is consistent with Islamic law ( Sharia) principles and guided by Islamic economics Land in Economics comprises all naturally occurring resources whose supply is inherently fixed (i

The land value tax is an ad valorem tax where only the value of land itself is taxed. An ad valorem tax ( Latin: according to value) is a Tax based on the value of Real estate or Personal property. This ignores buildings, improvements, and personal property. In Architecture, Construction, Engineering and real estate development the word building may refer to one of the following Any man-made Land improvement or land amelioration is making Land more usable by humans Personal property is a type of Property. In the Common law systems personal property may also be called chattels or personalty. Because of this, LVT is different from other property taxes which generally tend to fall on real estate - the combination of land and improvements to land. Property tax, or millage tax, is an Ad valorem tax that an owner pays on the value of the property being taxed Real estate is a legal term (in some jurisdictions notably in the USA, United Kingdom

Land value taxation is ancient, tracing back to early governments after the introduction of agriculture. For the government of parliamentary systems see Executive (government. Agriculture refers to the production of goods through the growing of plants and fungi and the raising of domesticated Animals The study of agriculture One of the oldest forms of taxation, it was originally based on crop yield. In Agriculture, crop yield (also known as "agricultural output" is not only a measure of the Yield of cereal per unit area of land under cultivation This early version of the tax required simply sharing the yield at the time of the harvest, akin to paying a yearly rent. In Agriculture, the harvest is the process of Gathering mature crops from the fields Reaping is the cutting of Grain ^[1] In modern times, every jurisdiction that has a real estate property tax has a land value tax, because part of the ad valorem basis for real estate is the locational or land value in addition to the improvement value. ^[2]

Economic effects

High efficiency

A supply and demand diagram showing the effects of land value taxation. Supply and demand is an Economic model describing effects on price and quantity in a Market. Note that the burden of the tax falls entirely on the land owner, and there is no deadweight loss. In Economics, tax incidence is the analysis of the effect of a particular Tax on the distribution of economic welfare. In Economics, a deadweight loss (also known as excess burden or allocative inefficiency) is a loss of economic efficiency that can occur when equilibrium

Most taxes distort economic decisions. ^[3] If labor, buildings or machinery and plants are taxed, people are dissuaded from constructive and beneficial activities, and enterprise and efficiency are penalized due to the excess burden of taxation. In Economics, the excess burden of Taxation, also known as the distortionary cost or deadweight loss of taxation is the economic loss that society This does not apply to LVT, which is payable regardless of whether or how well the land is actually used, because the supply of land is inelastic market land rents depend on what tenants are prepared to pay rather than on the expenses of landlords, and so LVT cannot be passed on to tenants. In Economics, elasticity is the ratio of the percent change in one variable to the percent change in another variable In Economics, tax incidence is the analysis of the effect of a particular Tax on the distribution of economic welfare. ^[4] The only alleged direct effect of LVT on prices is to lower the market price of land. Put another way, LVT is often said to be justified for economic reasons because if it is implemented properly, it will not deter production, distort market mechanisms or otherwise create deadweight losses the way other taxes do. In Economics, a deadweight loss (also known as excess burden or allocative inefficiency) is a loss of economic efficiency that can occur when equilibrium ^[5] A correlation between the use of LVT at the expense of traditional property taxes and greater market efficiency is predicted by economic theory, and has been observed in practice. ^[6][7]

Proponents allege that the necessity to pay the tax encourages landowners to develop vacant and under-used land properly or to make way for others who will. The claim is that because LVT deters speculative land holding, dilapidated inner-city areas are returned to productive use, reducing the pressure to build on green-field sites and so reducing urban sprawl. Urban sprawl, also known as suburban sprawl, is the spreading of a city and its Suburbs over rural land at the fringe of an urban area For example Harrisburg, Pennsylvania has taxed land at a rate six times that on improvements since 1975, and this policy has been credited by its long time mayor, Stephen R. Reed with reducing the number of vacant structures in downtown Harrisburg from about 4,200 in 1982 to less than 500. Harrisburg is the Capital of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, in the United States of America Stephen Russell Reed (born August 9, 1949 LVT is an ecotax because it ostensibly discourages the waste of locations, which are a finite natural resource. Ecotax, short for Ecological taxation, can refer to A policy that introduces taxes intended to promote ecologically sustainable activities via economic incentives ^[8][9][10]

Reduced speculation

Speculative bubbles in land price direct savings into rent seeking activities rather than productive investment, and usually end in corrective slumps which damage the entire economy. An economic bubble (sometimes referred to as a speculative bubble, a market bubble, a price bubble, a financial bubble, or a speculative In Economics, rent seeking occurs when an individual organization or firm seeks to make money by manipulating the economic and/or legal environment rather than by trade and Advocates of the tax claim that Land Value Taxation reduces the speculative element in land pricing, thereby leaving more money for productive capital investment and making the economy more stable. ^[11]

Loss of asset value

Land value is the discounted present value of expected future after-tax rents; so by increasing the taxation of those rents, LVT would reduce the value of all real estate owners' holdings. Critics suggest that a rapid reduction of real estate values could have profoundly negative effects on banks and other financial institutions whose asset portfolios are dominated by real estate mortgage debt, and could thus threaten the soundness of the whole financial system. In Business and Accounting, assets are everything owned by a person or company (all tangible and intangible property that can be converted into cash. In finance a portfolio is an appropriate mix of or collection of investments held by an institution or a private individual A mortgage is the pledging of a property to a Lender as a security for a Mortgage loan. ^[12] If land's value were reduced to zero or near zero by recovering effectively all its rent, as some LVT economists^[13] suggest is possible, total privately held asset value could decline by 25% or more, a massive reduction of private sector wealth. Georgists argue that the reduction in private rent collection would result in a corresponding increase in net wages held by laborers and net interest from capital held by investors. "Georgist" redirects here For the Romanian political group see National Liberal Party-Brătianu. In Economics, capital or capital Goods or real capital refers to items of extensive value

Implementation

Simplicity and certainty

In theory, levying a Land Value Tax is straightforward, requiring only a valuation of the land and the identity of the landholder. There is no need for the tax payers to deal with complicated forms or to give up personal information as with an income tax. Because land cannot be hidden, removed to a tax haven or concealed in an electronic data system,^[14] the tax can not be evaded. A tax haven is a place where certain Taxes are levied at a low rate or not at all Tax avoidance is the legal utilization of the Tax regime to one's own advantage in order to reduce the amount of tax that is payable by means that are within the law

However, critics point out that determining the value of land can be difficult in practice. In a 1796 United States Supreme Court opinion, Justice William Paterson noted that leaving the valuation process up to assessors would cause numerous bureaucratic complexities, as well as non-uniform assessments due to imperfect policies and their interpretations. The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest judicial body in the United States and leads the federal judiciary. William Paterson ( December 24 1745 September 9, 1806) was a New Jersey statesman a signer of the United States Constitution An assessor is an expert who calculates the value of property ^[15] Murray Rothbard later raised similar concerns, stating that no government can fairly assess value, which can only be determined by a free market. Murray Newton Rothbard (March 2 1926 – January 7 1995 was an American economist of the Austrian School who helped define modern Libertarianism A free market is a Market in which property rights are voluntarily exchanged at a price arranged completely by the mutual consent of sellers and buyers ^[16]

When compared to modern-day property tax evaluations, it has been argued that the valuation of land is simpler than the valuation of improvements because there will be much variation of building style, quality and size from lot to lot but little variation of land value from lot to lot. Modern computerization and statistical techniques have also eased the process; in the 1960s and 1970s, multivariate analysis was introduced as a method of assessing land^[17], which is commonly used by assessment offices to this day. Multivariate analysis (MVA is based on the statistical principle of Multivariate statistics, which involves observation and analysis of more than one statistical variable

Sufficiency of revenue

Some have argued that a land value tax alone cannot raise large enough revenues if LVT were to replace all other taxes. Tax revenue is the Income that is gained by Governments because of Taxation of the people ^[18] In a case event where a jurisdiction attempts to levy a land tax that is higher than the entire landowner surplus, it would result in the abandonment of property by those who would be paying and a sharp decline in tax revenue. ^[19]

Requires clear ownership

In some countries, LVT is nearly impossible to implement because of lack of certainty regarding land titles and clearly established land ownership and tenure. In Law, land registration is a system by which the Ownership of estates in land, is recorded and registered usually by Government, in order There are a great variety of modes of land ownership and tenure: Traditional land tenure If the government can not ascertain the proper owner, it cannot know from whom to collect the tax. The phenomena of lack of clear titles is found world-wide in developing countries^[20] and is in part the subject of the work of the Peruvian economist Hernando de Soto. Peru (Perú Piruw Piruw officially the Republic of Peru ( reˈpuβlika del peˈɾu is a country in western South America. Hernando de Soto (born 1941 - 06-02) is a Peruvian Economist known for his work on the Informal economy and on the importance of

Government authority in the United States

In the United States, there have historically been two legal obstacles to the implementation of land value taxes: uniformity clauses and Dillon's Rule. John Forrest Dillon ( December 25, 1831 &ndash May 6, 1914) was an American Jurist who served on both federal

Although the federal Uniformity Clause has never been an issue, many state constitutions have their own uniformity clauses, and the wording and interpretation of these clauses varies from state to state. Article I, Section 8, Clause 1 of the United States Constitution, is known as the Taxing and Spending Clause. Every state in the United States possesses its own constitution For example in 1898, prior to Maryland's amendment of Article 15 of its Declaration of Rights which now specifically allows for land value taxation, Maryland's highest court ruled that Hyattsville's use of land value taxation was unconstitutional. ^[21] Since then, Pennsylvania's uniformity clause has been broadly construed, and land value taxation has been used since 1913. ^[22]

Each state will have its own legal stance or lack of any stance on LVT; some uniformity clauses explicitly allow some types of classifications of property, some have no uniformity clause, and some do not specifically discuss land qua land at all. Except for the Maryland case of Hyattsville, no state courts have squarely ruled that land and improvements are actually "classes" of property such that uniformity clauses are applicable. In the United States, a state court has Jurisdiction over disputes with some connection to a U As a general rule, as long as each type of property (land, improvements, personal) is taxed uniformly there is no constitutional obstacle. In addition, no court other than the 1898 case in Maryland has actually struck down an attempt to implement land value taxation on the basis of a state uniformity clause.

Even in rather strict uniformity clause states, it is unclear whether the uniformity clause actually prohibits separate land value taxation. Some states have other constitutional provisions - for example in New Jersey, which gives localities maximum home rule authority and have not adopted Dillon's Rule. Home rule refers to a demand that constituent parts of a state be given greater self-government within the greater administrative purview of the central government While the uniformity clauses might be interpreted to prohibit state-wide action, local action may be legitimate. ^[23][24]

Although uniformity clauses do not seem to be a major obstacle in most jurisdictions to land value taxation, control of local authority by the state legislature remains a real obstacle, requiring the need for local enabling authority or the abrogation of Dillon's Rule. A legislature is a type of representative Deliberative assembly with the power to create amend and change Laws The law created by a legislature is called Legislation John Forrest Dillon ( December 25, 1831 &ndash May 6, 1914) was an American Jurist who served on both federal ^[25] In Maryland, for example, municipal corporations have the right implement land value taxation, but the counties, including Baltimore City which is treated as a county in Maryland for certain purposes, do not. A municipal corporation is the legal term for a local governing body, including (but not necessarily limited to cities, counties, Towns ^[26]

Ethics

See also: Georgism

Land (unlike goods and services) has no cost of production. "Georgist" redirects here For the Romanian political group see National Liberal Party-Brătianu. If an ample supply of land of equal desirability were available everywhere, there would be nothing to pay for its use. In reality land acquires a scarcity value owing to the competing needs of the community for living, working and leisure space. Scarcity (also called paucity) is the problem of Infinite human needs and Wants, in a world of Finite Resources In other According to proponents, the unimproved value of land owes nothing to the individual efforts of the landowner and everything to the community at large. These supporters suggest that the value of land belongs justly and uniquely to the community. Conversely, they argue that the reward for individual effort can belong only to the one who earns it, to spend, save, or give away as he or she may see fit. ^{[27] [28]}

LVT is also justified by some with the philosophical premise that the natural world was originally the common resource of all persons, and therefore LVT is not really a tax, but simply the collection of rent on behalf of those who waive their right of access to the resources they would otherwise have been free to use.

In religious terms, it has been claimed that land is a common gift to all of mankind. ^[29] For example, the Catholic Church asserts:

Everyone knows that the Fathers of the Church laid down the duty of the rich toward the poor in no uncertain terms. As St. Ambrose put it: "You are not making a gift of what is yours to the poor man, but you are giving him back what is his. You have been appropriating things that are meant to be for the common use of everyone. The earth belongs to everyone, not to the rich. "^[30]

– Pope Paul VI, Populorum Progressio

In distributism terms, land value also has been alleged to be much maldistributed than income. Pope Populorum progressio is the Encyclical written by Pope Paul VI on the topic of "the development of peoples" and that the economy of the world Distributism, also known as distributionism and distributivism, is a third-way economic philosophy formulated by such Roman Catholic While sizeable numbers of households own no land, few have no income. For example, 10% of land owners (all corporations) in Baltimore, Maryland own 58% of the taxable land value. The bottom 10% of those who own any land own less than 1% of the total land value. This is a form of Gini Coefficient analysis. The Gini coefficient is a measure of statistical dispersion most prominently used as a measure of inequality of income distribution or inequality of wealth ^[31] It is because of these distribution issues that land value taxation is sometimes suggested as a moderate, marktet-based form of land reform. Land reforms (also Agrarian reform, though that can have a broader meaning is an often- controversial alteration in the societal arrangements whereby government

LVT is also purported to act as value capture tax. Value capture refers to a type of innovative public financing in which increases in private land values generated by a new public investment are all or in part “captured” through a ^{[32][33][34][35]}A new public works project may make adjacent land go up considerably in value, and thus, with a tax on land values, the tax on adjacent land goes up. Thus, the new public improvements would be paid for by those most benefited by the new public improvements -- i. e. , those whose land value went up most.

Advocates

Physiocrats

Anne Robert Jacques Turgot

The physiocrats were a group of economists who believed that the wealth of nations was derived solely from the value of land agriculture or land development. Anne-Robert-Jacques Turgot Baron de Laune, often referred to as Turgot ( 10 May 1727 &ndash 18 March 1781) was a French The physiocrats were a group of Economists who believed that the wealth of nations was derived solely from the value of land Agriculture or land development An economist is an expert in the Social science of Economics. Agriculture refers to the production of goods through the growing of plants and fungi and the raising of domesticated Animals The study of agriculture Their use of the term laissez-faire meant that the only legitimate form of government revenue derived from the value of land. Laissez-faire ( pronunciation: French,; English,) is a French phrase literally meaning Let do (“allow to do” Their theories originated in France and were most popular during the second half of the 18th century. This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. The 18th century lasted from 1701 to 1800 in the Gregorian calendar, in accordance with the Anno Domini / Common Era numbering system Physiocracy is perhaps the first well developed theory of economics. Economics is the social science that studies the production distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The movement was particularly dominated by Anne Robert Jacques Turgot (1727–1781) and François Quesnay (1694–1774)^[36]. Anne-Robert-Jacques Turgot Baron de Laune, often referred to as Turgot ( 10 May 1727 &ndash 18 March 1781) was a French François Quesnay ( June 4, 1694 - December 16, 1774) was a French Economist of the Physiocratic school It immediately preceded the first modern school, classical economics, which began with the publication of Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations in 1776. Classical economics is widely regarded as the first modern school of economic thought. Adam Smith ( baptised 16 June 1723 – 17 July 1790) was a Scottish moral philosopher and a pioneer of Political economy. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations is the Magnum opus of the Scottish economist Adam Smith. Year 1776 ( MDCCLXXVI) was a Leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Smith took the term "laissez faire" from the Physiocrats but gave it a somewhat different meaning connotating free enterprise or a free market economy. Free enterprise may refer to Free enterprise system or Free enterprise economy, another term for Capitalism Free A free market is a Market in which property rights are voluntarily exchanged at a price arranged completely by the mutual consent of sellers and buyers

A land tax was advocated by the Framers of the U. S. Constitution in 1789. Alexander Hamilton writing in the Federalist Papers No. The Federalist Papers are a series of 85 articles advocating the ratification of the United States Constitution. 36^[37] gives the argument calling it the "most simple and most fit resource" for the several States. It was probably known to Franklin and certainly known by Jefferson as they were ambassadors to France from whence it sprang via the physiocrats Quesnay and Turgot. Jefferson brought his friend Pierre du Pont to the United States to promote the idea. Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours ( December 14, 1739 &ndash August 7 1817) was a French Writer, Economist The United States of America —commonly referred to as the ^[38]

Henry George

Henry George

Main article: Henry George

The most influential advocate of LVT was Henry George. Henry George ( September 2, 1839 &ndash October 29, 1897) was an American Political economist and the most influential proponent of Henry George ( September 2, 1839 &ndash October 29, 1897) was an American Political economist and the most influential proponent of George (September 2, 1839 – October 29, 1897) was an American political economist and originator of the "Single Tax" on land. Events 44 BC - Pharaoh Cleopatra VII of Egypt declares her son co-ruler as Ptolemy XV Caesarion. Year 1839 ( MDCCCXXXIX) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Common Events 437 - Valentinian III, Western Roman Emperor, marries Licinia Eudoxia, daughter of his cousin Theodosius II Year 1897 ( MDCCCXCVII) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Common Political economy originally was the term for studying production buying and selling and their relations with law custom and government "Georgist" redirects here For the Romanian political group see National Liberal Party-Brătianu. Land in Economics comprises all naturally occurring resources whose supply is inherently fixed (i He was the author of Progress and Poverty, written in 1879. Progress and Poverty was written by Henry George in 1879. The book is a Treatise on the Cyclical nature of an industrial

The Henry George Foundation of America^[39], a 501 (c) 4 non-profit foundation, was founded in 1926 by some of the leading progressive Democrats in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: Pittsburgh Mayors Scully and McNair, City Assessor Percy Williams, State Senator and Allegheny County Democratic Chairman Bernard B. In US history the term Progressivism refers to a broadly based reform movement that reached its height early in the 20th century The Pennsylvania Democratic Party is the local branch of the Democratic Party in the state of Pennsylvania. Allegheny County is a County in the southwestern part of the U McGinnis, and Councilman George Evans (driving force behind Buhl Planetarium). Its national office is now located in Philadelphia, where Henry George was born.

The Center for the Study of Economics^[40], a 501 (c) 3 non-profit educational foundation, was established in 1980 as the sister organization of the Henry George Foundation of America. Its mission is to research land value taxation, to assist governments in implementation and to study the effect of land based property taxation where used. It suggests implementation where appropriate but does not support political candidates or become involved in the electoral process. An election is a Decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual to hold formal office The Center also gathers and disseminates articles, studies and monographs on the subject of land based taxation.

HGFA and CSE use actual assessment data and have tax calculators to illustrate how "two-rate" taxation (lower on improvements and higher on land value) might actually be implemented and the effect on parcel by parcel basis in a variety of jurisdictions. They also sponsor the land value tax projects in Maryland^[41], New York^[42], Indiana^[43], Washington^[44], Pennsylvania^[22] and New Jersey^[24]. New York ( is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous The State of Indiana ( was the 19th US state admitted into the union Washington ( is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania ( often colloquially referred to as PA (its abbreviation by natives and Northeasterners is a state located in the Northeastern New Jersey ( is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States.

The HGFA and CSE were instrumentally in providing technical assistance (e. g. how to calculate rates, etc. ) to the Pennsylvania cities that adopted two-rate taxation in the 70s, 80s and 90s. They continue to provide technical assistance and do implementation studies across the country.

British Liberal Party

In the United Kingdom, LVT was an important part of the platform of the British Liberal Party during the early part of the twentieth century - David Lloyd George and H. H. Asquith proposed "to free the land that from this very hour is shackled with the chains of feudalism". The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located The Liberal Party was one of the two major British political parties from the early 19th century until the rise of the Labour Party in the 1920s and a third party David Lloyd George 1st Earl Lloyd George of Dwyfor OM, PC (17 January 1863 &ndash 26 March 1945 was a British Statesman and the only Herbert Henry Asquith 1st Earl of Oxford and Asquith, KG, PC ( 12 September 1852 &ndash 15 February 1928) served ^[45] It was also advocated by Winston Churchill early in his career. Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, KG, OM, CH, TD, FRS, PC, PC (Can ( 30 November 1874 ^[46] Labour's 1931 Budget included a land value tax, but before it came into force it was repealed by the Conservative-dominated National Government that followed shortly after. The Labour Party is a Political party in the United Kingdom. Founded at the start of the 20th century it has been since the 1920s the principal party of the The modern incarnation of the Liberal Party (not the Liberal Democrats) remains committed to a form of land value taxation as a form of local taxation to replace the Council Tax. The Liberal Party is a United Kingdom Political party. It was formed in 1989 by a group of people who felt that the merger of the old Liberal The Liberal Democrats, often shortened to Lib Dems, are a liberal Political party in the United Kingdom, formed in 1988 by merging the Council Tax is the system of local Taxation used in England, Scotland and Wales to part fund the services provided by local government in each ^[47]

Contemporary economists

• Nobel Prize winner William Vickrey believed that "removing almost all business taxes, including property taxes on improvements, excepting only taxes reflecting the marginal social cost of public services rendered to specific activities, and replacing them with takes on site values, would substantially improve the economic efficiency of the jurisdiction. The Nobel Prize (Nobelpriset (Nobelprisen is a Swedish prize established in the 1895 will of Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel; it was first awarded in Peace, Literature William Spencer Vickrey ( June 21, 1914, Victoria British Columbia - October 11, 1996, New York State), US citizen "^[48]

• Milton Friedman noted that "[T]he property tax is one of the least bad taxes, because it’s levied on something that cannot be produced — that part that is levied on the land". Milton Friedman (July 31 1912 November 16 2006 was an American Nobel Laureate Economist and Public intellectual. ^[49]

• In 1990, several economists wrote^[50] to then President Mikhail Gorbachev suggesting that Russia use Land Value Taxation in its transition towards a free market economy. The President of the Soviet Union was the Head of State of the USSR from March 15, 1990 to December 25, 1991. Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev ( Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachyov;; born 2 March 1931 in Privolnoye Stavropol Krai) is a Russian politician Russia (Россия Rossiya) or the Russian Federation ( Rossiyskaya Federatsiya) is a transcontinental Country extending A free market is a Market in which property rights are voluntarily exchanged at a price arranged completely by the mutual consent of sellers and buyers ^[51]

• In 2000, Florenz Plassmann and Nicolaus Tideman wrote^[52] that when comparing Pennsylvania cities using a higher tax rate on land value and a lower rate on improvements with similar sized Pennsylvania cities using the same rate on land and improvements, the higher land value taxation leads to increased construction within the jurisdiction. T Nicolaus Tideman (born August 11, 1943 in Chicago Illinois) is a Professor of Economics at Virginia Polytechnic Institute The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania ( often colloquially referred to as PA (its abbreviation by natives and Northeasterners is a state located in the Northeastern ^[53][54]

Land value tax systems

United States

Every single state in the United States has some form of property tax on real estate and hence, in part, a tax on land value. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the There are several cities that use LVT to varying degrees, but LVT in its purest form is not used on state or national levels. Land value taxation was tried in the South during Reconstruction as a way to promote land reform. The Southern United States &mdashcommonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South &mdashconstitutes a large distinctive Land reforms (also Agrarian reform, though that can have a broader meaning is an often- controversial alteration in the societal arrangements whereby government There have also been several attempts throughout history to introduce land value taxation on a national level. In Hylton v. United States, the Supreme Court directly acknowledged that a Land Tax was constitutional, so long as it was apportioned equally among the states. Hylton v United States, 3 US 171 ( 1796) was an early United States Supreme Court case in which the Court held that a tax on carriages did Two of the associate justices explained in their summaries, stating:

[T]he Constitution declares, . Associate Justice or Associate Judge is the title for a member of a judicial panel who is not the Chief Justice. . . both in theory and practice, a tax on land is deemed to be a direct tax. . . . I never entertained a doubt, that the principal, I will not say, the only, objects, that the framers of the Constitution contemplated as falling within the rule of apportionment, were a capitation tax and a tax on land. ^[55]

– Justice William Paterson

I am inclined to think, but of this I do not give a judicial opinion, that the direct taxes contemplated by the Constitution, are only two, to wit, a capitation, or poll tax, simply, without regard to property, profession, or any other circumstance; and a tax on land. William Paterson ( December 24 1745 September 9, 1806) was a New Jersey statesman a signer of the United States Constitution ^[55]

– Justice Samuel Chase

There have also been attempts since then to introduce land value tax legislation, such as:

• The earliest known legislation was the Federal Property Tax Act of 1798. This article is about the signer of the Declaration of Independence ^[56]
• In 1894, a bill was introduced by Representative James G. Maguire of California that would have introduced a Georgist taxation policy. James George Maguire ( 1853 - June 20 1920) was an American Politician who served as a U "Georgist" redirects here For the Romanian political group see National Liberal Party-Brătianu. ^[57]
• On February 20, 1935, Theodore L. Moritz of Pennsylvania introduced HR 6026, which would have implemented a national land value tax. Theodore Leo Moritz ( February 10, 1892 &ndash March 13, 1982) was a Democratic member of the U It would have imposed a 1% tax on the value of land in excess of $3,000.

Single tax

The first city in the United States to enact land value taxation was Hyattsville, MD in 1898, through the efforts of Judge Jackson H. Hyattsville is a city in Prince George's County Maryland, United States. Ralston. The Maryland Courts subsequently found it to be barred by the Maryland Constitution. The current Constitution of the State of Maryland, which was ratified by the people of the state on September 18, 1867, forms the Basic law for the Judge Ralston and his supporters commenced a campaign to amend the state Constitution which culminated in the Art. 15 of the Declaration of Rights (which remains today part of the Maryland State Constitution). The current Constitution of the State of Maryland, which was ratified by the people of the state on September 18, 1867, forms the Basic law for the In addition, he helped see that enabling legislation for towns be passed in 1916, which also remains in effect today. ^{[26] [58]}. In addition, the towns of Fairhope, Alabama and Arden, Delaware were founded as model Georgist communities or "single tax colonies". Fairhope is a city in Baldwin County, Alabama, on a sloping plateau along the cliffs and shoreline of Mobile Bay. Arden is a village in New Castle County, Delaware, in the United States.

Two-rate taxation

Market Square in Downtown Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

Nearly 20 Pennsylvania cities in the USA employ a two-rate or split-rate property tax: taxing the value of land at a higher rate and the value of the buildings and improvements at a lower one. Downtown Harrisburg, is the central core business and government center for the greater metropolitan area of Harrisburg Pennsylvania, USA. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Property tax, or millage tax, is an Ad valorem tax that an owner pays on the value of the property being taxed This can be seen as a compromise between pure LVT and an ordinary property tax falling on real estate (land value plus improvement value). ^[59] Alternatively, two-rate taxation may be seen as a form that allows gradual transformation of the traditional real estate property tax into a pure land value tax.

Primarily as a result of technical assistance from the Henry George Foundation of America^[39] and the Center for the Study of Economics^[40], nearly two dozen local Pennsylvania jurisdictions (such as Harrisburg^[60]) use two-rate property taxation in which the tax on land value is higher and the tax on improvement value is lower. Harrisburg is the Capital of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, in the United States of America Pittsburgh used the two-rate system from 1913 to 2001^[61] when an ineffective property assessment system led to a drastic increase in assessed land values during 2001 after years of underassessment, and the system was abandoned in favor of the traditional single-rate property tax. Year 1913 ( MCMXIII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Year 2001 ( MMI) was a Common year starting on Monday according to the Gregorian calendar. Pittsburgh's tax on land was about 5. 77 times the tax on improvements. Notwithstanding the change in 2001, the Pittsburgh Improvement District still employs a pure land value taxation as a surcharge on the regular property tax.

Other countries

Pure LVT, apart from real estate or generic property taxation, is used in Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong and Estonia. Taiwan ( Taiwanese: Tâi-oân/Tāi-oân (historically 大灣/台員/大員/台圓/大圓/台窩灣 is an Island in East Asia. Singapore Hong Kong ( officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, is a territory located on China 's south coast on the Pearl River Delta, and borders Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia ( Eesti or Eesti Vabariik) is a Country in Northern Europe in the Baltic region It is currently being introduced in Namibia, and there are campaigns for its introduction to South Korea and Scotland^[62]. Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa on the Atlantic coast South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea and often referred to as Korea ( Korean: 대한민국 tɛː Scotland ( Gaelic: Alba) is a Country in northwest Europethat occupies the northern third of the island of Great Britain. Many more countries have used it in the past, particularly Denmark^[63] and Japan. The Kingdom of Denmark ( ˈd̥ænmɑɡ̊ (archaic ˈd̥anmɑːɡ̊ commonly known as Denmark, is a country in the Scandinavian region of northern Europe For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Japan topics. Many pre-modern societies used land tax systems that were not based on the land's value, but nevertheless approximated a limited LVT by taxing agricultural land according to its yield or expected yield.

Hong Kong is perhaps the best modern example of the successful implementation of a high LVT. Hong Kong ( officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, is a territory located on China 's south coast on the Pearl River Delta, and borders The Hong Kong government generates more than 35% of its revenue from land taxes. ^[64]. Because of this, they can keep their other taxes rates low or non-existent and still generate a budget surplus.

Several cities around the world also use LVT, including Sydney, Canberra, and many other Australian cities^[6]. Sydney (ˈsɪdniː is the most populous city in Australia, with a Metropolitan area population of approximately 4 Canberra ( is the capital city of Australia With a population of over 340000 it is Australia's largest inland City. It has also been used in Mexicali, Mexico. Mexicali, is the capital of the Mexican state of Baja California. ^[65]

Notes

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