Land value tax

Uncommon card · No. 114452

A land value tax (LVT) is a levy on the value of land without regard to buildings, personal property and other improvements upon it. Many economists favor LVT, arguing it does not cause economic inefficiency, and helps reduce economic inequality. A land value tax is a progressive tax, in that the tax burden falls on land owners, because land ownership is correlated with wealth and income. The land value tax has been referred to as "the perfect tax", and the economic efficiency of a land value tax has been accepted since the eighteenth century. Economists since Adam Smith and David Ricardo have advocated this tax because they predict it will not hurt economic activity, and can encourage development without subsidies. A type of land value tax known as the single tax became central to Georgism, a normative school of economic thought developed in England in the 1800s. Henry George, its originator, argued a land value tax should be the only source of public revenue because the supply of land...

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