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Re:Why Are There Suddenly So Many Car Washes? by lmm on Tuesday March 19, 2024 @06:07AM (#39754269)
> They are still types of businesses gravely affected by high property taxes and land value taxes

Don't conflate two very different things. A business is affected by land value taxes to the extent that it uses expensive land (that's the point). A business that takes up zero land, such as one that can be run from the same building you live in, ipso facto pays zero land value tax.

Re:Why Are There Suddenly So Many Car Washes? by coldtea on Tuesday March 19, 2024 @07:07AM (#39754570)
>A business that takes up zero land, such as one that can be run from the same building you live in, ipso facto pays zero land value tax.

Local bookstores, delis, cafes, specialty shops, and so on, (a) use "expensive land", and (b) are not, usually, run "from the same building you live in".

I'm not talking about rural shops (those are a whole other thing, and die due to other reasons, like the economic decline and abandoment of rural areas).

I'm talking about beloved shops in major cities, replaced by expensive real estate getting them demolished to build whatever luxury mega-crap, and driving up rents contributing to gentrification.

Re:Why Are There Suddenly So Many Car Washes? by lmm on Thursday March 21, 2024 @02:39AM (#39775473)
> Local bookstores, delis, cafes, specialty shops, and so on, (a) use "expensive land", and (b) are not, usually, run "from the same building you live in".

Living over a shop like that is normal where I live, which is far from rural; I've been to many small cafes and similar that were clearly someone's (barely) converted home. Of course if you have dumb zoning it may make that impossible, but, uh, don't do that then.

> I'm talking about beloved shops in major cities

So what's over those shops if not living space?

> replaced by expensive real estate getting them demolished to build whatever luxury mega-crap, and driving up rents contributing to gentrification

"gentrification" is a spook. Making a place nicer is a good thing. The only reason nice places are unaffordable is because you build too few of them.