This piece from the Vancouver Sun advocates using land value capture taxes to fund transit and related improvements. Such a tax would target speculation, the author writes, rather than productive activity.
In the wake of a local vote against regressive tax hikes to fund transit, Paul Finch considers another way. "Land Value Capture, also known as an Area Benefiting Tax. To translate in plain terms: pay for transit improvements by taxing some of the property appreciation that those improvements produce."
In essence, land value capture would cut into the profits of developers speculating on transit-oriented gentrification. "Public infrastructure causes windfall gains for nearby property owners and developers. We could finance construction through government bonds, then repay those bonds over time with an incrementally higher property tax on nearby developable sites."
Finch argues that taxing higher land values doesn't significantly harm the economy. "Such a scheme has no 'dead weight loss' — that is, unlike income and sales taxes, it doesn't stifle the economy and taxes speculation rather than productive activity."
Transit's critics often deride its tendency to operate in the red, at least as far as fare revenues go. Land value capture has the potential to make transit's beneficiaries pay for what they're getting.
FULL STORY: Opinion: Fund transit by taxing land speculators
Oregon Passes Exemption to Urban Growth Boundary
Cities have a one-time chance to acquire new land for development in a bid to increase housing supply and affordability.
Where Urban Design Is Headed in 2024
A forecast of likely trends in urban design and architecture.
Savannah: A City of Planning Contrasts
From a human-scales, plaza-anchored grid to suburban sprawl, the oldest planned city in the United States has seen wildly different development patterns.
Washington Tribes Receive Resilience Funding
The 28 grants support projects including relocation efforts as coastal communities face the growing impacts of climate change.
Adaptive Reuse Bills Introduced in California Assembly
The legislation would expand eligibility for economic incentives and let cities loosen regulations to allow for more building conversions.
LA's Top Parks, Ranked
TimeOut just released its list of the top 26 parks in the L.A. area, which is home to some of the best green spaces around.
City of Rochester
Boston Harbor Now
City of Bellevue
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Mpact Transit + Community
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
City of Birmingham, Alabama
City of Laramie, Wyoming
Colorado Department of Local Affairs
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.