[RP TownTalk] Land Value Tax

[The Curries]

As it happens, before he was mayor, Hyattsville's Bill Gardiner did a study
for his master's degree in urban planning of how LVT would impact economic
development in Hyattsville.  He found that it would have a positive impact,
but it would be slight because the municipal share of property tax is so
small.  Unless the other governments that make up the largest part of the
levy (County, State) went the same way, you can't change the dynamic much
with a municipal LVT.  

Hyattsville, by the way, was the first municipality in the country to enact
the LVT -- more than 100 years ago.  Commissioner Jackson Ralston was a
disciple of visionary economist Henry George, who pioneered the concept of
land-value taxation.  Unfortunately for him and his cohort on the town
council, an opposing group sued the City and won in state court a year
later. At that time, Md. state law didn't provide for municipalities to
adopt LVT (it now does).  To add insult to injury, Ralston and his group
were voted out of office and replaced with the opposing faction in the next
election.

That history might explain why Hyattsville (and perhaps Riverdale Park?)
haven't tried to enact LVT even when there is some evidence it would have a
marginal positive impact on local development of commercial property.

Chris Currie
Hyattsville City Councilmember


-----Original Message-----
From: TownTalk-bounces at riverdale-park.org
[mailto:TownTalk-bounces at riverdale-park.org] On Behalf Of Marc Molino
Sent: Tuesday, April 11, 2006 7:33 AM
To: gerardkiernan at earthlink.net; TownTalk at riverdale-park.org
Subject: [RP TownTalk] Land Value Tax

Putting aside the individual personalities and which policies they support, 
could someone explain to me why a land value tax is a bad idea, or better 
yet, by what reasoning have previous town councils voted against 
implementing an LVT?

Because a theory sounds good, doesn't mean it's practial; likewise, just 
because someone voted against it, doesn't mean it's a bad idea. I would 
assume one argument might go that if Riverdale Park were the only 
municipality to have an LVT, developers might go elsewhere to purchase 
property first.

Anyhow, I'd appreciate hearing a little more on why Riverdale Park has voted

against such an option in the past. At this point, I am neither for nor 
against an LVT. Mostly, I just miss the Riverdale Bookstore and the bicycle 
store.

Kindly,
Marc Molino



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