In my role as Executive Director of the Progress and Poverty Institute I have the privilege of attending conferences and professional convenings in a variety of subjects including, of course, tax policy. Among these, the National Tax Association’s annual conferences and spring symposia are always a highlight – and last week’s event was certainly no exception!
The NTA’s annual conference took place in Boston, and featured a program packed with fascinating research on topics ranging from wealth taxes to childcare subsidies to corporate business taxes. And this year, for the second time since I began attending in 2019, the agenda featured research into Land Value Taxes, both in local U.S. and international contexts.
One such presentation was given by PPI grantee, Robert Morris University professor, and LVT research giant Zhou Yang, who spoke on LVT and urban sprawl. In her presentation Yang explained how the policy increases the economic intensity of land use, decreasing the pressure for development at the periphery in the process.
And in his presentation “The Potential and Utility of Land Value Taxation – A Theoretical Framework and Simulation,” Syracuse University’s Yilin Hou described the highly compelling results of a newly created simulation model exploring the impacts of LVT adoption in China. The bottom line: replacing the current land lease system with an LVT would produce economic growth and enhanced social stability.
I was also excited to see Progress of Ideas grantee and University of Chicago researcher Francesco Ruggieri at the conference. Ruggieri presented his PPI-funded work on “Overlapping Jurisdictions and the Provision of Local Public Goods in U.S. Metropolitan Areas” (a full research report and video interview about the project are available here).
I came back from Boston feeling fortunate to have had the opportunity to learn from leading tax researchers, heartened to know that LVT is (rightly) in the academic mix once again, and proud that PPI continues to sponsor this important event. If you fancy yourself a tax policy wonk and have yet to attend a National Tax Association conference, I recommend you check it out!
