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Mark Tilley's avatar

You might also want to have a look at Land Value Tax (LVT). It separates the value of land and buildings for purposes of municipal taxes, and taxes the land portion at a much higher rate. In effect, it also become a vacancy tax on unused, or underutilized land.

The idea has been around for well over 100 years, but probably got labeled as more of a crank idea when first suggested because it was purported then to replace all other taxes too.

There’s a fair bit of info out there, and it has actually been in use in several Pennsylvania municipalities for decades, although it seems to be falling somewhat out of favour due more to political shenanigans than problems with the idea itself.

However, I’ve not been able to find much practical info on the mechanics of how assessors actually arrive at how to split a property value into land and improvement components. Also, the idea of zoning and/or different rates based on zoning doesn’t seem to be discussed (its effect on value, or whether LVT would only work, or work better in its absence). This may be because zoning seems to be a significantly lesser force in the U.S. (from my observation).

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Glen Gower's avatar

Thanks for writing this David. In the end, Council decided not to end the VUT. It will continue in 2024 and beyond, with some administrative tweaks: https://www.glengower.ca/notebook/notebook-my-motion-to-tweak-the-vacant-unit-tax/

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