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Better Cities Project
  • Home
  • About Us
    Our Vision
    BCP’s vision is that free-market municipal policy solutions are broadly available, widely acceptable, and regularly employed, enabling American cities to achieve their full potential as engines of economic prosperity. We reject the idea that cities are lost to free-market principles or policies.
    Our Mission
    BCP uncovers ideas that work, promotes realistic solutions, and forges partnerships that help people in America’s largest cities live free and happy lives.
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    Address

    304 S. Jones Blvd #2826
    Las Vegas NV 89107

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    (702) 608-2046‬

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    Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. - 5 p.m.

    Email

    info@better-cities.org

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Home Community, Growth and Housing

Detroit’s land use tax

Is the land-use tax a revenue-neutral way to spur development and infill? City leaders in the Motor City are exploring the question.

Patrick TuoheybyPatrick Tuohey
January 11, 2024
in Community, Growth and Housing, Economic Prosperity
Reading Time: 2 mins read
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Detroit’s land use tax

Detroit Skyline, Sept.2008

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The City of Detroit is considering a land use tax to replace its existing property tax — a move backers say will motivate people to develop parcels sitting undeveloped or underdeveloped.

Property taxes in Detroit and elsewhere assess and tax both the value of the land itself and any improvements made upon it. As everyone who owns land understands, this increases the cost of building, as not only must the owner pay for the improvement itself but also any higher property tax that will likely result. That resulting property tax acts as a disincentive to develop — or even maintain — property, encouraging owners to do nothing with unused land. This is a particular challenge in Detroit, named by the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy as having the highest property tax rates in the country.

A land tax only assesses the value of the land itself and not any improvements made to it. Thus the additional tax cost of making improvements is removed as is the associated disincentive. Detroit also plans to make the shift to a land use tax revenue-neutral, meaning that the city will not lose money as it shifts tax burdens from those with developed property to those with vacant or underdeveloped land.

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In an article in The Economist, the author writes,

Right now, says Alex Alsup of Regrid, a data firm, Detroit has “a very pure version of speculation”. As downtown booms, people who bought land nearby years ago—such as the owners of the car parks—merely have to wait for investment nearby to raise the value of their own land. Higher taxes might force them to sell up to people who will build on it. “It is entirely possible that this land tax has the ability to free up properties,” says Kofi Bonner, the CEO of Bedrock.

The bigger immediate benefit, though, comes from reducing taxes on most residents. The city argues that 97% of homeowners will get a tax cut. Lower tax rates on improvements ought to encourage people to invest in properties—and help some avoid falling behind on their taxes.

A proposal that ends the disincentive to develop or maintain properties while holding tax revenue constant is worth examining for all cities.

Tags: DetroitEconomic DevelopmentHousing AffordabilityMichiganTaxes
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Patrick Tuohey

Patrick Tuohey

Patrick Tuohey is co-founder and policy director of the Better Cities Project. He works with taxpayers, media, and policymakers to foster understanding of the consequences — sometimes unintended — of policies such as economic development, taxation, education, and transportation. He also serves as a senior fellow at Missouri's Show-Me Institute and a visiting fellow at the Virginia-based Yorktown Foundation for Public Policy.

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