Vancouver, B.C. is struggling with a world class affordable housing crisis which some locals believe is the worst, anywhere, in any country.
In order to put the brakes on land speculation that is fuelling the crisis, Vancouver City Council is considering generating income by implementing a land value tax, which will be based on the gain in the value of land. Changes that increase the value of land, say a rezoning from residential low density to residential high density and decisions about the location of valuable public amenities such as transit, would be taxed, discouraging speculation and generating income to build affordable housing.
In a recent article, Patrick Condon offers a study of the benefits of such an extra tax upon land. Then he draws upon a classic work by a long forgotten journalist, Henry George, published in 1879: Progress and Poverty. Condon uses some of George’s insight about land value speculation in the developing nation of America to expose possible weaknesses of Vancouver’s proposed approach, weaknesses that Condon suggests could increase unaffordability.
Further, Condon proposes alternatives that might be made to existing city property taxes in order to achieve the City’s objectives of quelling speculation and raising money for affordable housing. Read more in THE TYEE: Vancouver’s Land Tax Idea: Good, Bad and Ugly
Condon is not being given the final word on the subject here. Paul Finch is one of the architects of the Land Value Tax proposal now under consideration. He sets out the thinking behind the tax and how it would work. He also analyses Condon’s alternatives.
Read more on Finch’s ideas, also in THE TYEE: In Defence of Vancouver’s Proposed Land Value Tax
