Download or read book Assessing the Theory and Practice of Land Value Taxation written by Richard F. Dye and published by Lincoln Inst of Land Policy. This book was released on 2010 with total page 32 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The land value tax is the focus of this Policy Focus Report, Assessing the Theory and Practice of Land Value Taxation. A concept dating back to Henry George, the land value tax is a variant of the property tax that imposes a higher tax rate on land than on improvements, or taxes only the land value. Many other types of changes in property tax policy, such as assessment freezes or limitations, have undesirable side effects, including unequal treatment of similarly situated taxpayers and distortion of economic incentives. The land value tax can enhance both the fairness and the efficiency of property tax collection, with few undesirable effects; land is effectively in fixed supply, so an increase in the tax rate on land value will raise revenue without distorting the incentives for owners to invest in and use their land. A land value tax has also been seen as a way to combat urban sprawl by encouraging density and infill development. Authors Richard F. Dye and Richard W. England examine the experience of those who have implemented the land value tax -- more than 30 countries around the world, and in the United States, several municipalities dating back to 1913, when the Pennsylvania legislature permitted Pittsburgh and Scranton to tax land values at a higher rate than building values. A 1951 statute gave smaller Pennsylvania cities the same option to enact a two-rate property tax, a variation of the land value tax. About 15 communities currently use this type of tax program, while others tried and rescinded it. Hawaii also has experience with two-rate taxation, and Virginia and Connecticut have authorized municipalities to choose a two-rate property tax. The land value tax has been subjected to studies comparing jurisdictions with and without it, and to legal challenges. A land value tax also raises administrative issues, particularly in the area of property tax assessments. Land value taxation is an attractive alternative to the traditional property tax, especially to much more problematic types of property tax measures such as assessment limitations, the authors conclude. A land value tax is best implemented if local officials use best assessing practices to keep land and improvement values up to date; phase in dual tax rates over several years; and include a tax credit feature in those communities where land-rich but income-poor citizens might suffer from land value taxation.

Download or read book A Good Tax written by Joan Youngman and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In A Good Tax, tax expert Joan Youngman skillfully considers how to improve the operation of the property tax and supply the information that is often missing in public debate. She analyzes the legal, administrative, and political challenges to the property tax in the United States and offers recommendations for its improvement. The book is accessibly written for policy analysts and public officials who are dealing with specific property tax issues and for those concerned with property tax issues in general.

Download or read book Rethinking Property Tax Incentives for Business written by Daphne A. Kenyon and published by . This book was released on 2012 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The use of property tax incentives for business by local governments throughout the United States has escalated over the last 50 years. While there is little evidence that these tax incentives are an effective instrument to promote economic development, they cost state and local governments $5 to $10 billion each year in forgone revenue. Three major obstacles can impede the success of property tax incentives as an economic development tool. First, incentives are unlikely to have a significant impact on a firm's profitability since property taxes are a small part of the total costs for most businesses--averaging much less than 1 percent of total costs for the U.S. manufacturing sector. Second, tax breaks are sometimes given to businesses that would have chosen the same location even without the incentives. When this happens, property tax incentives merely deplete the tax base without promoting economic development. Third, widespread use of incentives within a metropolitan area reduces their effectiveness, because when firms can obtain similar tax breaks in most jurisdictions, incentives are less likely to affect business location decisions. This report reviews five types of property tax incentives and examines their characteristics, costs, and effectiveness: property tax abatement programs; tax increment finance; enterprise zones; firm-specific property tax incentives; and property tax exemptions in connection with issuance of industrial development bonds. Alternatives to tax incentives should be considered by policy makers, such as customized job training, labor market intermediaries, and business support services. State and local governments also can pursue a policy of broad-based taxes with low tax rates or adopt split-rate property taxation with lower taxes on buildings than land.State policy makers are in a good position to increase the effectiveness of property tax incentives since they control how local governments use them. For example, states can restrict the use of incentives to certain geographic areas or certain types of facilities; publish information on the use of property tax incentives; conduct studies on their effectiveness; and reduce destructive local tax competition by not reimbursing local governments for revenue they forgo when they award property tax incentives.Local government officials can make wiser use of property tax incentives for business and avoid such incentives when their costs exceed their benefits. Localities should set clear criteria for the types of projects eligible for incentives; limit tax breaks to mobile facilities that export goods or services out of the region; involve tax administrators and other stakeholders in decisions to grant incentives; cooperate on economic development with other jurisdictions in the area; and be clear from the outset that not all businesses that ask for an incentive will receive one.Despite a generally poor record in promoting economic development, property tax incentives continue to be used. The goal is laudable: attracting new businesses to a jurisdiction can increase income or employment, expand the tax base, and revitalize distressed urban areas. In a best case scenario, attracting a large facility can increase worker productivity and draw related firms to the area, creating a positive feedback loop. This report offers recommendations to improve the odds of achieving these economic development goals.

Download or read book Urban and Regional Policy and its Effects written by Nancy Pindus and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2011-01-01 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Urban and Regional Policy and Its Effects, the third in a series, sets out to inform policymakers, practitioners, and scholars about the effectiveness of select policy approaches, reforms, and experiments in addressing key social and economic problems facing cities, suburbs, and metropolitan areas. The chapters analyze responses to five key policy challenges that most metropolitan areas and local communities face: • Creating quality neighborhoods for families • Governing effectively • Building human capital • Growing the middle class • Enlarging a competitive economy through industry-based strategies • Managing the spatial pattern of metropolitan growth and development Each chapter discusses a specific topic under one of these challenges. The authors present the essence of what is known, as well as its likely applications, and identify the knowledge gaps that need to be filled for the successful formulation and implementation of urban and regional policy.

Download or read book The Shadow Economy written by Friedrich Schneider and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2013-02-14 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book presents new data to give an overview of shadow economies from OECD countries and propose solutions to prevent illicit work.

Download or read book Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania to the Inhabitants of the British Colonies written by John Dickinson and published by New York : Outlook Company. This book was released on 1903 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Strong Towns written by Charles L. Marohn, Jr. and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2019-10-01 with total page 262 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A new way forward for sustainable quality of life in cities of all sizes Strong Towns: A Bottom-Up Revolution to Build American Prosperity is a book of forward-thinking ideas that breaks with modern wisdom to present a new vision of urban development in the United States. Presenting the foundational ideas of the Strong Towns movement he co-founded, Charles Marohn explains why cities of all sizes continue to struggle to meet their basic needs, and reveals the new paradigm that can solve this longstanding problem. Inside, you’ll learn why inducing growth and development has been the conventional response to urban financial struggles—and why it just doesn’t work. New development and high-risk investing don’t generate enough wealth to support itself, and cities continue to struggle. Read this book to find out how cities large and small can focus on bottom-up investments to minimize risk and maximize their ability to strengthen the community financially and improve citizens’ quality of life. Develop in-depth knowledge of the underlying logic behind the “traditional” search for never-ending urban growth Learn practical solutions for ameliorating financial struggles through low-risk investment and a grassroots focus Gain insights and tools that can stop the vicious cycle of budget shortfalls and unexpected downturns Become a part of the Strong Towns revolution by shifting the focus away from top-down growth toward rebuilding American prosperity Strong Towns acknowledges that there is a problem with the American approach to growth and shows community leaders a new way forward. The Strong Towns response is a revolution in how we assemble the places we live.

Download or read book Economic Impact Analysis of Transit Investments written by Cambridge Systematics and published by Transportation Research Board. This book was released on 1998 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This report will be of interest to transportation economists and other analysts to assist them in selecting methods to conduct economic impact analyses of transit investments. Although the primary goal of public transportation investments is to improve mobility, economic benefits are also important to transit investment decisions. Consequently, it is important that reliable and defensible analytic methods are used to support decisionmaking.

Download or read book Local Tax Policy written by David Brunori and published by The Urban Insitute. This book was released on 2007 with total page 184 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Improving Tax Increment Financing TIF for Economic Development written by David Merriman and published by . This book was released on 2018-09-05 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Economist David Merriman of the University of Illinois at Chicago reviews more than 30 individual studies in the most comprehensive assessment of tax increment financing (TIF) with practical recommendations for policy makers and practitioners. The report finds that while TIF has the potential to draw investment into neglected places, it has not accomplished the goal of promoting economic development in most cases. First implemented in the 1950s, TIF funds economic development within a defined district by earmarking increases in future property tax revenues that result from increases in real estate values in the district. The tax revenue can be used for public infrastructure or to compensate private developers for their investments, but TIF is prone to several pitfalls: it often captures some revenues that would have been generated through normal appreciation in property values, it can be exploited by cities to obtain revenues that would otherwise go to overlying government entities such as school districts, and it can make cities' financial decisions less transparent by separating them from the normal budget process. The report recommends several ways that state and local policy makers can reform TIF practices going forward.

Download or read book Making Sense of Incentives written by Timothy J. Bartik and published by W.E. Upjohn Institute. This book was released on 2019-10-15 with total page 180 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Bartik provides a clear and concise overview of how state and local governments employ economic development incentives in order to lure companies to set up shop—and provide new jobs—in needy local labor markets. He shows that many such incentive offers are wasteful and he provides guidance, based on decades of research, on how to improve these programs.

Download or read book The Encyclopedia of Taxation Tax Policy written by Joseph J. Cordes and published by The Urban Insitute. This book was released on 2005 with total page 522 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "From adjusted gross income to zoning and property taxes, the second edition of The Encyclopedia of Taxation and Tax Policy offers the best and most complete guide to taxes and tax-related issues. More than 150 tax practitioners and administrators, policymakers, and academics have contributed. The result is a unique and authoritative reference that examines virtually all tax instruments used by governments (individual income, corporate income, sales and value-added, property, estate and gift, franchise, poll, and many variants of these taxes), as well as characteristics of a good tax system, budgetary issues, and many current federal, state, local, and international tax policy issues. The new edition has been completely revised, with 40 new topics and 200 articles reflecting six years of legislative changes. Each essay provides the generalist with a quick and reliable introduction to many topics but also gives tax specialists the benefit of other experts' best thinking, in a manner that makes the complex understandable. Reference lists point the reader to additional sources of information for each topic. The first edition of The Encyclopedia of Taxation and Tax Policy was selected as an Outstanding Academic Book of the Year (1999) by Choice magazine."--Publisher's website.

Download or read book Why People Pay Taxes written by Joel Slemrod and published by . This book was released on 1992 with total page 361 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Experts discuss strategies for curtailing tax evasion

Download or read book State Taxation and Economic Development written by Roger J. Vaughan and published by Council of State Policy & Planning Agencies. This book was released on 1979 with total page 1010 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Communities in Action written by National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2017-04-27 with total page 583 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the United States, some populations suffer from far greater disparities in health than others. Those disparities are caused not only by fundamental differences in health status across segments of the population, but also because of inequities in factors that impact health status, so-called determinants of health. Only part of an individual's health status depends on his or her behavior and choice; community-wide problems like poverty, unemployment, poor education, inadequate housing, poor public transportation, interpersonal violence, and decaying neighborhoods also contribute to health inequities, as well as the historic and ongoing interplay of structures, policies, and norms that shape lives. When these factors are not optimal in a community, it does not mean they are intractable: such inequities can be mitigated by social policies that can shape health in powerful ways. Communities in Action: Pathways to Health Equity seeks to delineate the causes of and the solutions to health inequities in the United States. This report focuses on what communities can do to promote health equity, what actions are needed by the many and varied stakeholders that are part of communities or support them, as well as the root causes and structural barriers that need to be overcome.

Download or read book A General Equilibrium Model for Tax Policy Evaluation written by Charles L. Ballard and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2009-05-15 with total page 275 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book reports the authors' research on one of the most sophisticated general equilibrium models designed for tax policy analysis. Significantly disaggregated and incorporating the complete array of federal, state, and local taxes, the model represents the U.S. economy and tax system in a large computer package. The authors consider modifications of the tax system, including those being raised in current policy debates, such as consumption-based taxes and integration of the corporate and personal income tax systems. A counterfactual economy associated with each of these alternatives is generated, and the possible outcomes are compared.

Download or read book Economic Security Neglected Dimension of National Security written by National Defense University (U S ) and published by Government Printing Office. This book was released on 2011-12-27 with total page 132 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On August 24-25, 2010, the National Defense University held a conference titled “Economic Security: Neglected Dimension of National Security?” to explore the economic element of national power. This special collection of selected papers from the conference represents the view of several keynote speakers and participants in six panel discussions. It explores the complexity surrounding this subject and examines the major elements that, interacting as a system, define the economic component of national security.