I\u2019m not an Econ major, but I\u2019ve always wondered why we don\u2019t tax land values by themselves instead of taxing land values plus the values of buildings on them. Specifically, I wonder why we have so many surface parking lots in downtown Minneapolis. For example, according to Hennepin County, the surface lot just north of the downtown library, between 3rd Street and Washington Ave, and Nicollet and Hennepin Avenues, pays about $30,000 in property taxes per year on its 1.7 acres, or about $18,000 per acre. Move one block east, between Nicollet and Marquette, and that building pays almost $2 million in property taxes on 2.45 acres, or almost $800,000 per acre. Even the surface lot east of the library pays $379,000 in taxes on 2.52 acres, or about $150,000 per acre, because there are no buildings on the lot.<\/p>\n
This is ridiculous. Is a surface lot the best use of that land? By charging more taxes for building on the lot, the tax code certainly discourages development. That\u2019s why Altoona in Pennsylvania has moved to property taxes<\/a> based entirely on the land value instead of land plus building value. There is debate on how well it is working, but I\u2019m happy to see that others have thought about this issue as well.<\/p>\n It would be nice to have Minneapolis move towards this property tax model. I\u2019d like to see more development downtown instead of setting aside so much room for storing vehicles.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I\u2019m not an Econ major, but I\u2019ve always wondered why we don\u2019t tax land values by themselves instead of taxing land values plus the values of buildings on them. Specifically, I wonder why we have so many surface parking lots in downtown Minneapolis. For example, according to Hennepin County, the surface lot just north of… Continue reading Land Value Taxes<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[276,116],"class_list":["post-944","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-economics","tag-taxes","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t