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This article tackles the question of unearned increment that accrues to landowners in urban situations in terms of uplifts in land values. Several public policy strategies including planning and tax instruments have been developed, applied, and debated overtime to appropriate this benefit from the hands of private landowners and return to the public in a practice known as land value capture (LVC). This article adds to the on-going debate by undertaking a taxonomic examination of LVC strategies and instruments to end a fragmentary understanding of the phenomenon. It pays particular attention to the tax-based strategy of LVC where site value taxation (SVT) is mainly associated with Henry George. Hence the review identifies Georgist and non-Georgist typologies of unearned increment using the concept of site, the theory of value, the concept of SVT, and the benefit principle of property tax. After defining the non-Georgist unearned increment also known as betterment, it goes ahead to draw conceptual distinctions between betterment taxes: planning gain levies and special assessment rates. This has helped to bring together all LVC strategies and all SVT instruments under one conceptual roof thereby contributing to the general theory of SVT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractMaintaining or increasing tax-based allocations is a strategic imperative for many public park and recreation agencies. Some agencies have the capacity to do so by sponsoring ballot initiatives proposing property tax increases in support of operational and capital expenses. In this manuscript we investigate the role of beliefs about the economy in shaping perceptions of such “greenspace ballot initiatives.” Specifically, we examine whether attitudes toward, and support for, greenspace ballot initiatives vary according to an individual’s willingness to buy—operationalized as their consumer confidence. Our results indicate that—independent of income—voters with higher levels of consumer confidence feel more positively toward ballot initiatives that would raise their property taxes to support public parks and recreation, and are more likely to vote in favor of them. We conclude by discussing potential implications for decision makers and future research efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates how tax rates and tax enforcement jointly impact fiscal capacity in low‐income countries. We study a policy experiment in the D.R. Congo that randomly assigned 38,028 property owners to the status quo tax rate or to a rate reduction. This variation in tax liabilities reveals that the status quo rate lies above the revenue‐maximizing tax rate (RMTR). Reducing rates by about one‐third would maximize government revenue by increasing tax compliance. We then exploit two sources of variation in enforcement—randomized enforcement letters and random assignment of tax collectors—to show that the RMTR increases with enforcement. Including an enforcement message on tax letters or replacing tax collectors in the bottom quartile of enforcement capacity with average collectors would raise the RMTR by about 40%. Tax rates and enforcement are thus complementary levers. Jointly optimizing tax rates and enforcement would lead to 10% higher revenue gains than optimizing them independently. These findings provide experimental evidence that low government enforcement capacity sets a binding ceiling on the revenue‐maximizing tax rate in some developing countries, thereby demonstrating the value of increasing tax rates in tandem with enforcement to expand fiscal capacity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates issues related to determining real estate market indicators in the framework of mass appraisal of immovable pro- perty in the Republic of Moldova, according to the recent methodological framework issued by the authorities, set to be implemented in practi- ce. Simultaneously, this study proposes an applied methodology for real estate market analysis, aiming to identify specific indicators necessary for an adequate and equitable assessment of the real estate market at both regional and national levels. The article systematically syn- thesizes the limitations associated with using arithmetic mean to calculate market prices per unit as market indicators, and highlights the advantages of rate study as an alternative for monitoring and analysing the real estate market. The effectiveness of the proposed methodology is demonstrated through a case study, arguing for its necessity in practice.

The South African Value-Added Tax (VAT) Act lacks a logical structure for fixed property transactions, making it difficult to teach, apply and administer. This study examines the organisational structure of the VAT Act as an element of legal complexity. The study establishes guidelines to simplify VAT implications for fixed property transactions. Semi-structured interviews were conducted following a literature review. Research shows that improving statute structure, layout and organisation improves readability. This study confirms that the fixed property provisions of the VAT Act complicate the law, increasing compliance and administrative costs. The literature review and interview findings support the development of the guidelines to simplify complex transactions in the VAT Act. The principles in the guidelines include section grouping, headings and subheadings and clear signposting, and in this article these are applied to practically illustrate the VAT implications for fixed property transactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Copyright of Umsatzsteuer-Rundschau is the property of De Gruyter and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Recent changes in Canadian legislation have enabled First Nations to adopt property taxation and other forms of taxation on reserves, thereby allowing them to directly finance their local governments through local tax revenues. In this paper, we compile data on the passage of First Nations tax laws over a 30-year period from a centralized national database on First Nations by-laws, the First Nations Gazette. We combine those data with additional sources to analyze the factors that are associated with First Nations exercising their taxation authority. We find evidence of geographic policy diffusion consistent with First Nations learning from their neighbors and direct evidence that formal educational and institutional resources are important correlates of tax law adoption. Understanding that process informs the broader literature on the evolution of taxation structures and local political incentives, the analysis may contain important lessons for Indigenous tax jurisdiction in other contexts. It is also a critical first step towards assessing the long-term consequences of First Nations' new fiscal powers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When the Supreme Court declared "home equity theft" policies a Fifth Amendment taking in Tyler v. Hennepin County, a diverse coalition celebrated its holding. To the unsuspecting, the Tyler decision appears to be motivated by fairness in returning surplus equity to an elderly African-American tax-delinquent homeowner. But when low-income homeowners lose their greatest asset due to even minimal tax debt, returning a fraction of the value (the surplus) is hardly an adequate remedy. This Article refocuses attention away from the invalidation of "home equity theft" policies to larger inequities in the U.S. property tax system that have a disparate impact on communities of color--essentially robbing them of their greatest asset for even minimal tax debt. The nationwide trend of over-assessing property taxes in Black and Latinx communities and then adding exorbitant penalties and fees makes redemption out of reach for most low-income homeowners. This Article offers a step-by-step analysis of the three stages of tax delinquency: over-assessment in communities of color leading to tax default, tax lien sales, and tax foreclosures. As state and local governments have created the problem, they too must remedy it. It was a judicial overreach for the Tyler Court to strike a state's tax policy as a taking; this does more to further the "property rights" movement and limit the government's ability to tax than to promote "equity." The legislative reforms suggested in this Article would better enable homeowners to exercise their right of redemption to stay in their homes, obviating the need for the return of surplus. This should be the prime focus of future reform efforts, beyond complying with the new Tyler standard. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Property transaction taxes—also known as stamp duty—are widely viewed as an inefficient form of taxation. In this paper, we examine the welfare implications of removing stamp duty in a general equilibrium overlapping generation model with heterogeneous agents. Our model features an idiosyncratic shock to housing preferences, which may create mismatch or induce households to move. We calibrate the model to the Australian housing market, and conduct counterfactual policy experiments where stamp duty is replaced with recurrent property or consumption taxes. We find that removing stamp duty raises household mobility and reduces the degree of housing mismatch substantially. When examining steady states, we find that newborn households prefer entering an economy with a recurring property tax rather than one with stamp duty. In contrast, when examining the transition we find that existing households prefer replacing stamp duty with a consumption tax. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The corporate alternative minimum tax, enacted as part of the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, intends to impose a minimum level of taxation on profitable large corporations using financial statement income as a tax base. Although both alternative tax bases and the usage of financial statement income in taxes have a long history in the United States, the tax represents a substantial change in the current corporate tax law. Although the corporate alternative minimum tax is predicted to raise billions of dollars from a small subset of the largest corporations, its design raises concerns about long-term efficacy. In this article, we summarize the development of the corporate alternative minimum tax in light of its historical predecessors and compare its design against accepted standards of good tax policy, ultimately identifying multiple inadequacies in its construction and implementation. We conclude by making policy recommendations. JEL Classifications: H21; H25; K34. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With its densely built coastline and economic and fiscal reliance on development, Florida is an extreme case of how climate change threatens both the built environment and urban land governance. We conducted one of the first statewide assessments of how sea level rise will affect Florida's municipal revenues. We paired this with a statewide survey of coastal planners and managers to assess how they have been funding climate adaptation. We found that more than half of Florida's 410 municipalities will be affected by sea level rise, exposing on average almost 30% of local revenues. Yet, though climate impacts will significantly stress local fiscal health, we found no relationship between cities' prioritization of climate adaptation and their fiscal exposure. Municipal revenues will become increasingly eroded by climate impacts and market responses. More fiscally affected municipalities are comparatively smaller, Whiter, and wealthier. They may be better able to invest in near-term adaptations, but long-term sea level rise could erode local fiscal capacity to maintain infrastructure and protect local tax bases. These municipalities' fiscal health and decline will affect regionwide housing markets, gentrification, and displacement. These dynamics underscore the need for stronger regional climate assessments and land and tax governance to overcome challenges facing coastal and near-coastal municipalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nearly every county in Pennsylvania uses the base-year system to assess properties for purposes of ad valorem property taxation. Because counties infrequently reassess under the base-year system, its continued use results in taxpayers bearing unequal tax burdens, thereby violating federal equal protection and state uniformity jurisprudence. To have an assessment scheme that passes both federal and state constitutional standards, Pennsylvania must reform its assessment practices by mandating regular countywide reassessments and providing for greater state oversight. While academic publications have previously contemplated whether individual components of Pennsylvania assessment law are constitutional, none have scrutinized the entire system. Pennsylvania courts and the state legislature have failed to take appropriate action to fix the property tax system. Pennsylvania courts' reluctance to strike down the base-year system as an unconstitutional violation of the Pennsylvania Uniformity Clause has further exacerbated the issues arising from the system and the state legislature has not remedied the broken statutory scheme. Pennsylvania must ensure uniform taxation among properties in each county by eliminating the base-year system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After the Federal Constitutional Court declared the previous property tax system unconstitutional in 2018, eleven federal states chose the so-called federal model as the new procedure. It continues to be based on the valuation of properties using the modified Valuation Act. This assumes static value ratios, which may have become significantly outdated and no longer contribute to equal taxation. In addition, the character of the property tax as a special wealth tax is extremely antiquated and is no longer constitutional. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study shows how the property taxation system in Detroit, Michigan, exacerbated neighborhood destabilization even after several programs were introduced to mitigate its amply documented failings. It delves into reasons why this occurred, summarizes reforms enacted after 2017, and proposes additional ones. The study draws upon property records, tax-auction sales information, direct observations of more than 5,000 auctioned parcels, interviews with occupants of a random sample of those properties, and U.S. Census Bureau and U.S. Postal Service data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article argues for just action policies to redress racial segregation and inequality created under the Color of Law. Topics discussed include U.S. government program to move the white working class and middle class populations out of urban areas into single family homes in all-white suburbs from which African Americans would be prohibited from living, discrimination in property tax system and credit scoring system, and the need to improve conditions in low-income neighborhoods.

Since Charles Tiebout first hypothesized that consumer-voters move to the venue that best satisfies their preferences for public goods and since Gordon Tullock subsequently emphasized that the migration decision would involve assessing the tax burden associated with that venue, numerous studies of the Tiebout (sometimes, the Tiebout-Tullock) hypothesis have been published. The present study re-examines that hypothesis in terms of tax freedom indices, namely, the income tax freedom index, the property tax freedom index, and the sales tax freedom index, as well as the index of overall tax freedom, while at the same time allowing for various economic variables and quality of life variables, with the latter including yet another form of freedom, namely, the overall personal freedom index. The empirical estimates all provide strong support for the hypothesis in terms of the impact of these tax freedom indices on state-level US gross in-migration over the 2010–2017 post-Great Recession period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the article is to study the problematic aspects of property tax administration and identify approaches to its improvement. It is found that property tax revenues in Ukraine are at a low level relative to GDP, their share in GDP does not exceed 1%, while the level of this ratio in the EU Member States is on average 2.2%. During the period under analysis, there is a tendency to a slow reduction in the share in GDP of both local taxes and fees, as well as property tax, which makes local budgets dependent on transfers from the State budget and the shares of national taxes and fees assigned to them. There is a steady tendency to reduce the share of property tax in the tax revenues of local budgets of Ukraine in recent years, which is associated with the full-scale war in Ukraine and the tax benefits for the payment of property taxes adopted by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. It is determined that the largest share in the structure of property taxes falls on land payments, while the share of transport tax is very low due to the limited list of objects that are liable to taxation. The main problems of property tax regulation in Ukraine have been allocated as follows: insufficient level of effectiveness in the administration of real estate tax, imperfect process of determining the property tax base, unreasoned establishment of property tax benefits, centralized administration of property taxes. Different approaches to tax administration and foreign experience on this issue are analyzed. The expediency of transferring the powers to administer property taxes to local self-government bodies in order to strengthen the financial capacity of communities and reduce public expenditures is substantiated. It is defined that local self-government bodies represent the most interested subject in the formation of a self-sufficient system of local finances, and tax service bodies have insufficient resources and have low motivation to administer property taxes. The problems for local authorities in case of obtaining powers to administer property tax are outlined. A new model of property tax administration has been proposed, in which local self-government bodies exercise the entire set of powers to administer property taxes. Directions for improving the property tax administration system in Ukraine are also proposed.