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naraburns  nihil supernum  1yr ago (text post)   32883 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of October 10, 2022

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Well then it's not strictly voluntary, is it?

In the same way any tax isn't strictly voluntary, yes.

But this argument generalizes to literally any sort of tax you could impose. I'm happy to have that discussion.

But I thought we were engaging with the LVT idea itself.

If you can't afford to pay the taxes on your subjective valuation, you're forced out of your home just as surely as if the government re-assessed your property at a higher rate than you can afford.

Which is why you better set your valuation at the correct level!

Is it better to depend on the government to declare a valuation which you have almost no control over?

This is why we don't normally tax wealth.

Also because wealth can be easily hidden or obfuscated. As opposed to land, which is physically located exactly where you expect it to be at all times, and can't be hidden.

But surely taxing land doesn't prevent someone from shifting their wealth into other, non-taxed assets!!!!

In the same way any tax isn't strictly voluntary, yes.

But this argument generalizes to literally any sort of tax you could impose. I'm happy to have that discussion.

But I thought we were engaging with the LVT idea itself.

The LVT is a taxation of 100% of land value. This is unlike any other tax we currently do impose that I am aware of.

Is it better to depend on the government to declare a valuation which you have almost no control over?

Yes, quite obviously, because I don't have to pay to vote. If I don't like the taxation level or think the assessments are wildly inaccurate, I have regulatory, judicial, and electoral recourse. In your system, if any person in the world decides they want to force me out, they can and I can't do anything about it except pay them their declared value.

Imagine how this affects investment, too: if you want to attempt a development, you have to pay extra taxes for the privilege of not having your investment bought ought from under you as soon as the risk is retired. If you're lucky, you get to just about break even. If you're unlucky, you lose your investment and the high taxes you paid.

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