taxes discourage sprucing up your property

[lildog]

I don't see how that would change. If I have never called the police or the fire department or used the library or had a kid in the school and Mr x does it all, he will have no incentive to reduce services, will he?

Cathleen

Private sector is ALWAYS cheaper then government.

There gets to a point where Mr. X looks and realizes his "fair cut" of the library is now $170 a year... he can get net flix with unlimited number of movies for $70 and you can buy a heck of a lot of books for $100 a year.

If everyone paid their fair cut, except those few who utilized every town service to the max, the majority would find they are over paying and could get better deals through private sector.

[FrankChodorov]

Make the tax on land only, based on square footage, not some arbitrary valuation. So much per acre.

an acre of unimproved land in downtown Concord is not worth the same as downtown Franklin.

land values are socially created...by allowing landowners to reap the benefits of what is socially created you legitimate a tax on the wages of those being excluded from that land.

[FrankChodorov]

A tax on land only does several things:
1) It discourages sprawl.
2) It does not penalize you for keeping your property up
3) It encourages maximum utilization of land
4) Everyone pays the same

boy Alan you are a pretty quick study...

[AlanM]

A tax on land only does several things:
1) It discourages sprawl.
2) It does not penalize you for keeping your property up
3) It encourages maximum utilization of land
4) Everyone pays the same

boy Alan you are a pretty quick study...

Thanks, Frank. I don't believe in your economic rent theories, however.

[FrankChodorov]

A tax on land only does several things:
1) It discourages sprawl.
2) It does not penalize you for keeping your property up
3) It encourages maximum utilization of land
4) Everyone pays the same

boy Alan you are a pretty quick study...

Thanks, Frank. I don't believe in your economic rent theories, however.

I think you mean that you don't believe that the economic rent should be owned in common as an individual equal access right.

the "theory" of economic rent is irrefutable as it is a natural occuring phenomena that is the result of two or more people competing for access to limited natural and socially created opportunities.

[CNHT]

IF local tax is to pay for local services, then a fair tax  is one that is apportioned relative to the usage of those services as closely as possible. Obviously a use tax would be best. That is easier for some things than others.

Cathleen

Yeah like let's start by giving me back the $7,000 I pay each year to support this darned school...

[burnthebeautiful]

I heard that California has a system where you pay x% of whatever you payed for the property. Like if you buy a house for $100,000, your property tax is $100 a week, for all time (figures made up). Except the $100 adjuts for inflation, of course.

I think this is a reasonable system. This way when buying a property you know how much your property tax is always going to pay. You can plan your economy much better knowing the property tax will always be the same.

[CNHT]

I heard that California has a system where you pay x% of whatever you payed for the property. Like if you buy a house for $100,000, your property tax is $100 a week, for all time (figures made up). Except the $100 adjuts for inflation, of course.

I think this is a reasonable system. This way when buying a property you know how much your property tax is always going to pay. You can plan your economy much better knowing the property tax will always be the same.

Yes it's called Proposition 13 and was during the tenure of the author of my quote.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Proposition_13_(1978)

Massachusetts has Prop 2 and 1/2 which you can read about here:  http://cltg.org/