We can have one without the other
Building on the lessons of the roughly 20 Pennsylvania municipalities and school districts that have made use of Land Value Taxes (LVT), Detroit’s Mayor Duggan introduced a proposal to bring the policy to his City in May 2023, during the Mackinac Policy Conference. This plan,… Read More »Exploring Detroit’s Land Value Tax Plan: A Revenue-Neutral Approach
Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan’s plan to implement a Land Value Tax continues moving forward, albeit with a new timeline. Since May 31, when Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan unveiled a plan to introduce a Land Value Tax, Michigan tongues have been wagging furiously. Declaring the current… Read More »Land Value Tax plan takes shape in Detroit, as negotiations continue
Passing on the LVT option, North Carolina moves forward with slashing its flat income tax rate anyway. On September 20th, North Carolina House and Senate leaders put forth a long-anticipated two- year budget agreement. The agreement does not include the Land Value Tax that Resource… Read More »North Carolina moves forward with slashing its flat income tax rate
Climate change poses a significant threat to numerous regions in the United States, rendering them increasingly uninhabitable due to rising sea levels, flooding, wildfires, and more. As a response to this challenge, managed retreat has emerged as a strategy to relocate affected households, neighborhoods, and even communities away from harm’s way. Although managed retreat can involve a number of processes, the use of buyouts––the voluntary purchasing of private properties using public funds (which is intended to spur the relocation of at-risk households to lower risk locations), is a critical (and in many places, virtually the only) tool in a policy maker’s toolbox.
While physically moving people out of harm’s way makes intuitive sense, the real world applications of managed retreat-related buyouts are highly complex, emotional, and fraught with weighty fiscal and equity implications. Here we explore some basic financial considerations of managed retreat, shedding light on the challenges faced by affected municipalities and fundamental flaws in the system as a whole.
Article by Tom Gihring, Research Director – Common Ground OR/WA Consequences of Two Property Tax Systems For several years property tax reformers have been calling for a land value tax (LVT) to counteract rapidly rising home prices. A property tax system that raises the tax… Read More »Tax Induced Opportunities for Expanding Community Land Trust Housing in Portland, Oregon
LLCs are a way to combine the benefits of a traditional corporate structure with enhanced anonymity and reduced tax-liability, making them the ideal method for limiting risk while at the same time maximizing profits. This incentivizes land speculation rather than reinvestment in the land in… Read More »CPTR Mapping Tool: LLCs in New York City
LLCs are a way to combine the benefits of a traditional corporate structure with enhanced anonymity and reduced tax-liability, making them the ideal method for limiting risk while at the same time maximizing profits. This incentivizes land speculation rather than reinvestment in the land in the form of development. At the same time, LLCs provide no incentive to improve the properties they own, leaving many areas of NYC blighted and underutilized. This has obvious negative consequences for the neighborhoods in which they are located. Because LLC owners are anonymous, there is no way to exert pressure on them to either improve or sell their properties. This is why this tool is such an important means to increasing transparency and accountability in LLC ownership.
For there to be transparency and accountability, however, it’s important that the pertinent information is accessible to the public. Again, this is where the CPTR mapping tool comes in. It identifies vacant and underutilized parcels in NYC and illuminates them on an interactive map which allows anyone to see if a parcel is owned by an LLC or privately owned.
So we’re left with these dual realities: the premise of property taxes is sound, but the execution is inequitable. And for us at the Center for Property Tax Reform this brings two questions immediately to mind: First, where does bias in property assessments come from? (After all, professional assessors’ primary objective is to create valuations that are “fair and equitable,” not for some property owners, but for all of them.) And second, recognizing that many current assessments fall short of meeting the fair and equitable standard, what can we do to fix them?
It was with these questions in mind that we created our “Bias in Assessments Handbook.” The Handbook combines an extensive literature review with data gathered through one-on-one interviews with professional assessors in some of the nation’s largest jurisdictions – assessors who have personally and professionally dedicated themselves to identifying and remedying regressivity and inequities in their jurisdictions’ assessments and can speak with authority about how to do it right.
The Robert Schalkenbach Foundation (RSF) is committed to supporting original research that carries the ideas of 19th century economist and social reformer Henry George into the 21st century and beyond. To this end, RSF supports the conduct of original research into topics of social justice,… Read More »Robert Schalkenbach Foundation Progress of Ideas Grant
“Statutorily exempt” is the term used to describe owners of land and buildings who, by virtue of their identities, are not required to pay property taxes. Their holdings are still assessed like everyone else’s but no bill is ever generated, despite the fact that they benefit from the same tax-funded amenities (like schools, roads, and public services) as everyone else. So while an organization’s tax exempt status may feel like a foregone conclusion, their savings aren’t actually free. As part of its commitment to transparency in taxation, CPTR explores the specific implications of tax exemptions for cities and towns across the country. This report is focused on the City of Roanoke, VA.
In the State of Virginia, statutorily exempt owners include religious institutions; federal, state, and city entities; public parks and libraries; charities; and more. Using the City’s 2021 tax data, it’s possible to understand exactly how this plays out in Roanoke.
