Re:How to make housing more affordable
by yellowapple on Sunday September 26, 2021 @06:19AM
(#28659734)
> If I buy a piece of land
Why do you presuppose that land is something you should be able to buy outright?
It's your improvements on that land that you (should) rightfully own and be able to sell or pass on to future generations; those improvements are the result of your labor, after all (be it directly or indirectly). The land is not; it existed for millions (if not billions) of years before you, and barring a literal Earth-shattering catastrophe will exist for billions of years after you.
> Land leases massively disincentivize making improvements to land or structures, because it’s not even yours.
They do the precise opposite. If you're going to take up space, you should be using it for its maximum potential - and that's exactly what things like land leases or land value taxes incentivize (since it's pretty pointless to spend that money if you don't intend to develop it to its full potential).
Why do you presuppose that land is something you should be able to buy outright?
It's your improvements on that land that you (should) rightfully own and be able to sell or pass on to future generations; those improvements are the result of your labor, after all (be it directly or indirectly). The land is not; it existed for millions (if not billions) of years before you, and barring a literal Earth-shattering catastrophe will exist for billions of years after you.
> Land leases massively disincentivize making improvements to land or structures, because it’s not even yours.
They do the precise opposite. If you're going to take up space, you should be using it for its maximum potential - and that's exactly what things like land leases or land value taxes incentivize (since it's pretty pointless to spend that money if you don't intend to develop it to its full potential).