LAND VALUE TAX SHIFT FOR TAX RELIEF & FAIRNESS
A Baltimore Thrive Article
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LAND VALUE TAX SHIFT FOR TAX RELIEF & FAIRNESS
Baltimore residents and businesses are paying too much in taxes. Equally important, the tax system discourages constructing, improving and maintaining buildings while rewarding owners who allow buildings to deteriorate. Owners of vacant lots and boarded-up buildings pay much less tax than more responsible neighbors – even though the cost to maintain streets, sidewalks and other infrastructure is the same in front of lots regardless of whether they are vacant or developed. Baltimore Thrive hopes that you will help us remedy this situation by supporting a Land Value Tax Shift.
Today, land speculators hoard land, waiting for its value (created by others) to go up. When this happens, they collect a windfall by selling the land or renting it out at a higher price than what they paid. Land speculation is a parasitic activity. It creates nothing of value. But, by creating an artificial scarcity of developable sites, it inflates land prices and reduces housing affordability and jobs while inducing urban sprawl.
The Tax Shift will reduce taxes on homes and other buildings while increasing the tax on land values that are created by public goods and services. The result is lower taxes for residents and businesses and higher taxes for absentee land speculators. This tax shift creates more affordable housing and more jobs without any new spending or any loss in revenue! This policy has worked well in Pennsylvania communities and elsewhere.
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Here are the steps required for implementation:
Enact a Tax Parity Act in Annapolis. Today, MD TAX-PROPERTY CODE § 6-303(c)(1) permits Maryland municipalities to enact this tax shift. But MD TAX-PROPERTY CODE § 6-302 prohibits Baltimore City and Maryland counties from doing this. (Section 302 omits “Unless otherwise provided ...”) Baltimore and Maryland counties deserve the same tax rate setting powers as Maryland municipalities!
Enact a Universal Property Tax Abatement ordinance in the Baltimore City Council. This ordinance would gradually reduce tax rates applied to all buildings while gradually increasing tax rates applied to land values.
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We welcome your help in making Baltimore a more productive and equitable city to live in. To volunteer or to get additional information, contact BaltimoreThriveVanessa@gmail.com
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