Support for Land Value Rates

Geordie Rogers
Geordie Rogers
Wellington City Councillor
“In the middle of a housing crisis we need to be building houses, not keeping empty parking lots. Land shouldn't be used to build wealth, it should be used to house thriving communities. LVR shifts our framing of land away from profit to people. Renters, families and our wider community will benefit from that.”
Dr. Tim Helm
Dr. Tim Helm
Prosper Australia
“Land value is a fairer rating base, because it's based on the value a landowner could be deriving from the infrastructure and services council provides for them, whether they use those or not. Unlike capital value, rating it doesn't subsidise those who underuse their land relative to its potential.”
Prof. Arthur Grimes
Prof. Arthur Grimes
VUW School of Government
“Winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics William Vickrey, once commented that a tax on land is 'one of the best taxes' and a tax on improvements is 'one of the worst taxes'. A switch from a capital value base to a land value base for rates enhances both efficiency and equity.”
Stuart Donovan
Stuart Donovan
Senior Fellow at Motu Research
“Together with the upzoning allowed under the new district plan, evidence suggests Land Value Rates will support increased investment in Wellington’s buildings and contribute to economic prosperity, more broadly.”
Dr. Eric Crampton
Dr. Eric Crampton
The NZ Initiative
“Downtown land serviced by superb council services can sit as surface parking lots and pay a trivial rating levy, because there is little capital sitting on top of it. If council rates were based on land value, rather than land plus capital, there would be stronger incentive to build apartments or commercial developments – perhaps with parking on the lower levels.”
Milton Friedman
Milton Friedman
Recipient of the Nobel Prize in Economics
“The least bad tax is the property tax on the unimproved value of land.”
Paul Krugman
Paul Krugman
Recipient of the Nobel Prize in Economics
“Believe it or not, urban economics models actually do suggest that [land value] taxation would be the right approach.”
Joseph Stiglitz
Joseph Stiglitz
Recipient of the Nobel Prize in Economics
“I think the ownership of land still provides one of the most important bases of taxation, and we almost surely do not tax it as much as we should.”
William Vickrey
William Vickrey
Recipient of the Nobel Prize in Economics
“The property tax is, economically speaking, a combination of one of the worst taxes—the part that is assessed on real estate improvements…and one of the best taxes—the tax on land or site value.”
Adam Smith
Adam Smith
Author of ‘The Wealth of Nations’
“Ground-rents are a still more proper subject of taxation than the rent of houses.”
International Monetary Fund
International Monetary Fund
“It is a well-known result in economics that land value taxation is efficient since it does not distort the supply of the tax base.”
NZ Productivity Commission
NZ Productivity Commission
“It is worth noting that 71% of councils levy their general rates on capital value rather than land value. This is not helpful to encouraging property development. This is because rates based on capital value tax development. By switching to land value rating…these councils would increase the tax burden on vacant relative to developed land without causing any distortion. Indeed, such a switch to land value taxation would improve productivity and economic efficiency more generally.”
David Lawrence
David Lawrence
former Mayor of Pittsburgh and Governor of Pennsylvania
“There is no doubt in my mind that the graded tax [Land Value Rates] has been a good thing for Pittsburgh. It has discouraged the holding of vacant land for speculation and provides an incentive for building improvements. It produced a more prosperous city.”
Stephen Reed
Stephen Reed
former Mayor of Harrisburg
“I should note that the City of Harrisburg was considered the second most distressed in the United States twelve years ago under the Federal distress criteria. Since then, over $1.2 billion new investment has occurred here, reversing nearly three decades of very serious previous decline. None of this happened by accident and a variety of economic development initiatives and policies were created and utilized. The two-rate [Land Value Rates] system has been and continues to be one of the key local policies that has been factored into this initial economic success here.”

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