Re: Land, Labour and Capital Taxation....

royls_at_telus.net
Date: 12/31/04 

Date: Fri, 31 Dec 2004 06:00:45 GMT

On 29 Dec 2004 19:39:54 -0800, imouttahere@mac.com wrote:

>royls@telus.net wrote:
>> On 28 Dec 2004 17:28:39 -0800, imouttahere@mac.com wrote:
>>
>> >r...@telus.net wrote:
>> >> >So it is less likely the railroad
>> >> >gets built. If you are a business owner who wishes to branch into
>> >> >shipping by building rail or dock facilities which others could
>use
>> >for
>> >> >a fee you realize doing so RAISES YOUR TAXES PERMENANTLY.
>> >>
>> >> No, it does not. Those are improvements that increase _others'_
>> >> taxes, not your own. You are just flat wrong.
>> >
>> >But as a 2nd-order effect the rising land value of a more efficient
>> >transportation hub would increase the assessed LVT of the parcel in
>> >question, right?
>>
>> Yes, but as a result of all the other activity going on there, not
>the
>> investment.
>
>My point, a minor one, is that there is /some/ traceable 2nd-order
>effect the improvement will have on the parcel.

Yes, but because it is second order, it is not a net cost.

>If I build a train spur connecting an existing industrial center, the
>industrial land should rise in valuation, which in turn make some parts
>of my parcel, or the airway rights perhaps if I don't own excess to the
>basic right of way, more valuable as a bleedback effect or something.

Yes, but that increase in value is real. It's not something that just
increases your taxes without increasing the benefits the tax recovers.

>> >But all productive effort must be taxed eventually to pay the tax
>bill,
>>
>> ?? No, productive effort would not be taxed at all. Why would it?
>
>I was just making the muddled comment that all taxes are paid in wealth
>transfers, said wealth resulting from the productive efforts of
>someone, sometime.

Yes, all taxes must come out of production. But not all taxes _bear_
on production: LVT comes out of money that would otherwise be taken
out of production and diverted into the pockets of idle landowners.
It does not increase the burden on production one whit. Indeed, by
stimulating more productive use of land and replacing inefficient
taxes, it dramatically _reduces_ the burden on production.

>> >But an interesting dynamic may exist where a landowner owns
>/multiple/
>> >parcels, and development on one will raise the tax on the other. But
>> >these 2nd-order effects are rather diffused, assuming the land-owner
>> >does not have true monopoly land holdings in the locality.
>>
>> The problem is, if that investment in development is really
>efficient,
>> someone else will bid enough for that land to get it from the owner,
>> will then build the improvement there, the former owner's tax on the
>> nearby parcel will go up _anyway_, but he won't get the advantage of
>> owning the profitable investment.
>
>That's the beauty of the LVT regime, too. It stimulates efficiency by
>penalizing the unproductive.

Right. Just as the market is supposed to do.

Funny how the apologists for privilege are all for the market, until
its operation could inconvenience the rich.

-- Roy L

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