Your assessment is deeply flawed. A land value tax does not make home ownership expensive. It makes land consumption expensive. If you live in a condo unit in a 40-story tower, you pay almost zero land value tax because you use very little land.
But if someone wants a sprawling estate, they should expect to pay more — especially in areas where that land could otherwise support hundreds of homes, jobs, or services. That’s the point. Land in high-demand areas is a scarce public resource. Using it efficiently — through dense development — lets more people benefit from the opportunity, infrastructure, and services that come with central locations.
Land value tax encourages exactly that. It doesn’t punish ownership — it rewards efficient use.
> A land value tax does not make home ownership expensive. It makes land consumption expensive.
Distinction without a difference, a home includes the costs of the land it sits on, at least until you find a way to teleport a home to cheaper land without a cost.
>But if someone wants a sprawling estate, they should expect to pay more
LVT isnt about taxing sprawling estates more than other homes. Its about charging tax based on proportional value of the land being occupied. Land value is largely informed by factors that home owners cannot control.
>It doesn’t punish ownership — it rewards efficient use.
It disincentivizes ownership of anything but the most high value land use. Unless there are a lot of regulations (like today) limiting use of land in particular areas, the highest value use version of housing might not be great to live in (if housing were even to be the highest value use in a lot of places).
For example, the current condo in a 40-story tower might well be far less valuable than some tiny serviced flats.
Efficient use might be a very unpleasant target to go for.
But if someone wants a sprawling estate, they should expect to pay more — especially in areas where that land could otherwise support hundreds of homes, jobs, or services. That’s the point. Land in high-demand areas is a scarce public resource. Using it efficiently — through dense development — lets more people benefit from the opportunity, infrastructure, and services that come with central locations.
Land value tax encourages exactly that. It doesn’t punish ownership — it rewards efficient use.