Re:Liberalizing Land Use Regulations: The Case of Houston (2...
by epistasis on Tuesday May 04, 2021 @12:44PM
(#27039599)
If you don't value your home that much, but somebody else does, then why don't you move?
The reality is that you value the location, just as others value it, and you also value not having to move probably, but you don't want to pay for it.
I think that you should have a right to stay where you are. And more than that, I think that everybody should have that right, be they renter or owner, as housing should be a human right.
However, land is a limited resource. And by limiting its use, you stand to profit handsomely. You may not think of yourself as a land speculator, but if you profit not through your own labor but because you are manipulating access to a scarce resource, land, then that is actual speculation.
If you truly do not care about the speculation and profit, and just want to keep your place and the labor you put into it, then may I suggest a compromise: you can keep your low taxes, while others pay more to support the community, as long as the increase in the value of the land is taxed at 100% at sale. Because unless you are putting labor into improving your house, any increase in value comes only from the increase in value of the land, something that you did not create, and claim that you do not even want.
If you are willing to agree to this, full capture of the land value increase, then I think we can create a reasonable society. But if you insist on profiting without labor and also at the same time denying people access to something that lots of people want, I'm not sure that society can continue for much longer.
The reality is that you value the location, just as others value it, and you also value not having to move probably, but you don't want to pay for it.
I think that you should have a right to stay where you are. And more than that, I think that everybody should have that right, be they renter or owner, as housing should be a human right.
However, land is a limited resource. And by limiting its use, you stand to profit handsomely. You may not think of yourself as a land speculator, but if you profit not through your own labor but because you are manipulating access to a scarce resource, land, then that is actual speculation.
If you truly do not care about the speculation and profit, and just want to keep your place and the labor you put into it, then may I suggest a compromise: you can keep your low taxes, while others pay more to support the community, as long as the increase in the value of the land is taxed at 100% at sale. Because unless you are putting labor into improving your house, any increase in value comes only from the increase in value of the land, something that you did not create, and claim that you do not even want.
If you are willing to agree to this, full capture of the land value increase, then I think we can create a reasonable society. But if you insist on profiting without labor and also at the same time denying people access to something that lots of people want, I'm not sure that society can continue for much longer.