![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ndrosenAfter lunch on Sunday, July 30, 2017, John Kelly gave a talk on “Ways to Advocate if LVT Isn’t an Answer.” He ran for the City Council in Peoria, Illinois; Illinois law does not permit a land-only property tax, and Peoria, as he describes it, is hostile to capital; it copied its policies from other Northern cities, where they didn’t work, either. It has high real estate taxes, of around 3%.
He Googled, and found a never-used Illinois statute that a blighted area could have up to ten years of tax abatements on new construction. Land values would rise in such an area, and those are taxable. New capital investment would enjoy the tax abatement, and land would not. He also suggested paying the state income tax of people living in new construction in the abatement district.
He also advocated building permit reform for the whole city, and eliminating the permit fees. He proposed to eliminate the building permit requirement for improvements to existing homes, and instead put leaflets [unfortunately, I didn’t write down where he would put the leaflets, or what they would say].
Peoria’s building codes are super-stringent, and enforcement is arbitrary, driving construction beyond the city limits. The Building Code is 1100 pages long, not counting the Structural Code, the Fire Code, or the Electrical Code. The bureaucrats in City Hall are often openly adversary to little guys. The big construction firms probably see the Codes as good ways to prevent little guys from competing.
Peoria can’t impose a site value of land tax, but could choose less bad taxes. Try to move down the harm scale. He had a list of which taxes he believed did the most harm.
According to a national survey, Peoria is idnetified as one of the worst cities for African Americans. What’s wrong? It has minority set-asides, affirmative action, etc.
More capital would lead to higher wages and higher land values. The man operating a backhoe is paid more than the man with a shovel. Stagnant cities are not good for blacks or other people. Peoria, Buffalo, and others are stagnant. Growing cities are better places to live.
Then came Q&A, when Mike Curtis, as a good Georgist, objected that the Law of Wages is not based on how much capital is used. That discussion was cut off.
Then there was mention of Tax Increment Financing. The government borrows money, does supposedly wonderful things for the neighborhood, people develop it, and taxes on the new development are used to pay off the borrowed money.
He Googled, and found a never-used Illinois statute that a blighted area could have up to ten years of tax abatements on new construction. Land values would rise in such an area, and those are taxable. New capital investment would enjoy the tax abatement, and land would not. He also suggested paying the state income tax of people living in new construction in the abatement district.
He also advocated building permit reform for the whole city, and eliminating the permit fees. He proposed to eliminate the building permit requirement for improvements to existing homes, and instead put leaflets [unfortunately, I didn’t write down where he would put the leaflets, or what they would say].
Peoria’s building codes are super-stringent, and enforcement is arbitrary, driving construction beyond the city limits. The Building Code is 1100 pages long, not counting the Structural Code, the Fire Code, or the Electrical Code. The bureaucrats in City Hall are often openly adversary to little guys. The big construction firms probably see the Codes as good ways to prevent little guys from competing.
Peoria can’t impose a site value of land tax, but could choose less bad taxes. Try to move down the harm scale. He had a list of which taxes he believed did the most harm.
According to a national survey, Peoria is idnetified as one of the worst cities for African Americans. What’s wrong? It has minority set-asides, affirmative action, etc.
More capital would lead to higher wages and higher land values. The man operating a backhoe is paid more than the man with a shovel. Stagnant cities are not good for blacks or other people. Peoria, Buffalo, and others are stagnant. Growing cities are better places to live.
Then came Q&A, when Mike Curtis, as a good Georgist, objected that the Law of Wages is not based on how much capital is used. That discussion was cut off.
Then there was mention of Tax Increment Financing. The government borrows money, does supposedly wonderful things for the neighborhood, people develop it, and taxes on the new development are used to pay off the borrowed money.
