Letter Published
Sep. 6th, 2024 02:54 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ndrosenThe Washington Post published a letter of mine on Thursday, in print and online; the published version was an abridgment of what I had written, but I will quote it as printed:
Jim Parrott and Mark Zandi have praise and criticism for Vice President Kamala Harris’s housing proposal in their Aug. 26 op-ed, “Harris’s plan could solve the housing crisis,” but both writers and Ms. Harris overlook important points.
The costs of land, labor and materials have indeed risen too high for builders to make a profit on affordable housing, but one of these three is not like the others. High pay encourages people to become construction workers, and high prices for beams and plumbing fixtures encourage their production. However, high land costs do not encourage production or create jobs for landmakers.
Construction regulations and demand have all made land more expensive. Attempts to subsidize housing are likely to increase the demand for land, driving up land prices further.
We need less snob zoning and property tax reform. Let’s replace the property tax — on buildings and land — with a land-only tax. Such a tax would make land speculation unprofitable, and relief from taxes on buildings would encourage housing construction. If we are to address the lack of affordable housing effectively, we need to think outside the box.
Nicholas D. Rosen, Arlington
The writer is president of the Center for the Study of Economics.
I remember Mark Zandi, not that I’ve ever met him, but IIRC, in the run-up to the Great Recession, and then in its aftermath, he made pronouncements about the real estate market which I really did not agree with. I don’t suppose him to be a complete fool, but unfortunately he has never “seen the cat,” as Georgists put it, and doesn’t understand what is really happening.
Jim Parrott and Mark Zandi have praise and criticism for Vice President Kamala Harris’s housing proposal in their Aug. 26 op-ed, “Harris’s plan could solve the housing crisis,” but both writers and Ms. Harris overlook important points.
The costs of land, labor and materials have indeed risen too high for builders to make a profit on affordable housing, but one of these three is not like the others. High pay encourages people to become construction workers, and high prices for beams and plumbing fixtures encourage their production. However, high land costs do not encourage production or create jobs for landmakers.
Construction regulations and demand have all made land more expensive. Attempts to subsidize housing are likely to increase the demand for land, driving up land prices further.
We need less snob zoning and property tax reform. Let’s replace the property tax — on buildings and land — with a land-only tax. Such a tax would make land speculation unprofitable, and relief from taxes on buildings would encourage housing construction. If we are to address the lack of affordable housing effectively, we need to think outside the box.
Nicholas D. Rosen, Arlington
The writer is president of the Center for the Study of Economics.
I remember Mark Zandi, not that I’ve ever met him, but IIRC, in the run-up to the Great Recession, and then in its aftermath, he made pronouncements about the real estate market which I really did not agree with. I don’t suppose him to be a complete fool, but unfortunately he has never “seen the cat,” as Georgists put it, and doesn’t understand what is really happening.
