Question A: Local governments will encourage property development by replacing property taxes with land value taxes.
Question B: Land value taxes are more progressive than property taxes.
Question A: Local governments will encourage property development by replacing property taxes with land value taxes.
| Economist | Institution | Opinion | Confidence | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jonathan Andreas | Bluffton University | Strongly Agree | 10 | |
| David Brasington | University of Cincinnati | Agree | 8 | |
| Ron Cheung | Oberlin College | Strongly Agree | 10 | |
| Kevin Egan | University of Toledo | Agree | 7 | |
| Kenneth Fah | Ohio Dominican University | Agree | 8 | |
| Michael Jones | University of Cincinnati | Agree | 8 | |
| Charles Kroncke | Mount Saint Joseph University | Uncertain | 6 | |
| Trevon Logan | Ohio State University | No Opinion | 1 | |
| Joe Nowakowski | Muskingum University | Agree | 6 | |
| Curtis Reynolds | Kent State University | Agree | 7 | Theory is quite clear that land taxes are more efficient than property taxes, so switching to land taxes should increase property development. How much that will happen is unclear. |
| Kay Strong | Independent | Agree | 8 | |
| Ejindu Ume | Miami University | Uncertain | 6 |
Question B: Land value taxes are more progressive than property taxes.
| Economist | Institution | Opinion | Confidence | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jonathan Andreas | Bluffton University | Agree | 8 | The devil is in the details and I don't have all the details, but for urban taxes it seems hard to engineer a land value tax to be less progressive than a real estate tax because poorer people spend a larger percent of their income on housing (which is taxed less) whereas richer people own most of the land (which is taxed more). |
| David Brasington | University of Cincinnati | Disagree | 8 | |
| Ron Cheung | Oberlin College | Strongly Agree | 10 | |
| Kevin Egan | University of Toledo | Agree | 5 | |
| Kenneth Fah | Ohio Dominican University | Disagree | 8 | |
| Michael Jones | University of Cincinnati | Disagree | 5 | |
| Charles Kroncke | Mount Saint Joseph University | Uncertain | 6 | |
| Trevon Logan | Ohio State University | No Opinion | 1 | |
| Joe Nowakowski | Muskingum University | Agree | 7 | |
| Curtis Reynolds | Kent State University | Uncertain | 5 | In general, I do not think that this is true. Taxing land instead of property would likely be more beneficial to property developers and wealthier individuals with the resources to develop property. In the long run, however, it may be helpful to lower income individuals if it allows for more wealth accumulation that can be passed through the generations. Given that property taxes are currently only applied to approximately 1/3 of assessed value, it is not clear how much they are really distorting homeowners from investing in their own properties. |
| Kay Strong | Independent | Disagree | 7 | |
| Ejindu Ume | Miami University | Disagree | 6 |