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The solution to the housing crisis is extremely simple

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Re: The solution to the housing crisis is extremely simple

#41

Post by Jtsummers »

TheCoelacanth wrote: post #40
Jtsummers wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Income from idle land is certainly unearned. But little idle land can earn anything (grazing land, I suppose, but then you still may have some maintenance or security you provide). Anything else will be earning income not from the land, but things built on the land, grown on the land, etc. A house that I have built (or maintain) isn't land, it's a house. It requires land to sit on. So when I rent it out, what percent…

The number one way of earning money from idle land is just to wait for its value to increase. That doesn't apply to all land, but it does apply to all land in areas that have a housing affordability problem.

By this proposal, can you even make money off the sale of land? Wouldn't that, also, be taxed 100%?

Re: The solution to the housing crisis is extremely simple

#43

Post by true_religion »

tps5 wrote: post #10
gragas wrote: post #3

>Income from land is thus completely unearned and thus any income gained from land ownership should be completely taxed at 100%. That pretty much sums up the article. This is a horrible idea and will never happen.

It's not a horrible idea. It's an old idea that's been popular with various economists including (gasp) Adam Smith: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_value_tax (I don't know enough about this subject to have a strong opinion either way, but I feel pretty confident saying that this isn't a terrible idea)

Isn't saying that it isn't terrible an opinion of itself? Also pointing out that hsitorically people thought certain something isn't enough on its own to show that it is the least bit reasonable in the modern era.

Re: The solution to the housing crisis is extremely simple

#44

Post by boznz »

aqsheehy wrote: post #22
djrobstep wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

100% of the rental income generated from land value (as opposed to buildings/improvements). Formula: total rental income * (value of land / value of land and buildings)

Why would anyone buy property under this regime?

somewhere to live..

Re: The solution to the housing crisis is extremely simple

#45

Post by boznz »

Every single law or solution you can make up for this problem (and many other similar ones) has one big flaw. That is the people who make the rules will ensure their properties are excluded, and every single lawyer and accountant will then follow these same rules for their clients to ensure they are also excluded.

This is currently the way the world works. Get over it!

Re: The solution to the housing crisis is extremely simple

#46

Post by djrobstep »

fiter wrote: post #26
djrobstep wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> what exactly is going to stop the company that owns the 50-unit apartment building that I live in from passing that tax directly onto me and the other tenants via rent? Competition. Your landlords are already charging as much as they can get away with. > And how does this help my parents, who own land and have completely paid off their house? The enormous pool of money raised could help fund public healthcare and s…

Competition will not resolve the issue of taxes being passed on, because all properties will have an increased tax burden. The smallest tax/rent increase will go to those using the land relatively optimally (to be decided by tax surveyors).

Tenants are already "taxed" this amount. It just goes to the landholder, rather than the government.

Re: The solution to the housing crisis is extremely simple

#47

Post by jacknews »

anovikov wrote: post #14

That is a communist bullshit. To begin with, is there a housing crisis in America? In my books, there is more housing per capita in U.S. than in every other country of the world save for Australia, and it is also more modern that almost everywhere else except a few countries that built out from nothing in the recent years like China (but per capita housing stock is much much lower there, and that housing is Soviet-st…

The crisis is that many people can't afford the housing that exists.

Much of the profit from the economy gets ploughed into land values, so land prices increase due to growth of the wider economy. So, much like owning company stock, you do nothing yet still profit from other people's effort, except with land, there's much less risk.

100% land tax was proposed by Henry George, and I'm surprised the article doesn't mention him. The idea is simply that land, natural resources etc, belong to all of us.

Consider a newborn child in a world where all the land is owned by other people. They are essentially born a slave, having to work a substantial amount simply to pay rent to someone who does nothing but own land. This proposal effectively acknowledges that we are all entitled to a share of the earth.

Of course any proposal that advocates "tax" or "government" is going to touch certain sensibilities, but rather than imagining an evil government sucking wealth from plucky individuals, consider it instead a big shared pool of cash, and every individual has a say in how (and how much) is collected and spent - which is what government ideally is.

Re: The solution to the housing crisis is extremely simple

#48

Post by jacknews »

filipecalasans wrote: post #37
anovikov wrote: post #14

That is a communist bullshit. To begin with, is there a housing crisis in America? In my books, there is more housing per capita in U.S. than in every other country of the world save for Australia, and it is also more modern that almost everywhere else except a few countries that built out from nothing in the recent years like China (but per capita housing stock is much much lower there, and that housing is Soviet-st…

LoL, exactly. It's just a metter of supply x demand. China is full of empty buildings due to keneysian policies. We should be worried on figuring out ways to increase well paid jobs offer.

China is full of empty properties due to rampant speculation and a brand new financial-capitalist system (larger that the US banking system) that financed it.

Re: The solution to the housing crisis is extremely simple

#49

Post by anovikov »

jacknews wrote: post #47
anovikov wrote: post #14

That is a communist bullshit. To begin with, is there a housing crisis in America? In my books, there is more housing per capita in U.S. than in every other country of the world save for Australia, and it is also more modern that almost everywhere else except a few countries that built out from nothing in the recent years like China (but per capita housing stock is much much lower there, and that housing is Soviet-st…

The crisis is that many people can't afford the housing that exists. Much of the profit from the economy gets ploughed into land values, so land prices increase due to growth of the wider economy. So, much like owning company stock, you do nothing yet still profit from other people's effort, except with land, there's much less risk. 100% land tax was proposed by Henry George, and I'm surprised the article doesn't men…

Why everyone needs to be able to afford the housing? Down here in Europe we have about 30% homeownership rate and nobody says we are in a crisis, in fact, we are doing very well. U.S. is again near top of the world in homeownership rate.

You are making things up - trying to see a problem where there isn't. Better think about fixing childcare, and healthcare - that's where the real crisis is.

Re: The solution to the housing crisis is extremely simple

#50

Post by jacknews »

anovikov wrote: post #49
jacknews wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The crisis is that many people can't afford the housing that exists. Much of the profit from the economy gets ploughed into land values, so land prices increase due to growth of the wider economy. So, much like owning company stock, you do nothing yet still profit from other people's effort, except with land, there's much less risk. 100% land tax was proposed by Henry George, and I'm surprised the article doesn't men…

Why everyone needs to be able to afford the housing? Down here in Europe we have about 30% homeownership rate and nobody says we are in a crisis, in fact, we are doing very well. U.S. is again near top of the world in homeownership rate. You are making things up - trying to see a problem where there isn't. Better think about fixing childcare, and healthcare - that's where the real crisis is.

Yes they could just live on the street.

By "afford housing" I don't mean just buying, but also renting. Rent prices reflect sale prices.

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