In early March, we ran a five-part series on the land value tax (LVT). On the surface, the LVT sounds a bit wonkish. (The acronym doesn’t help.) What we wanted to do with the series is to show how simple the concept actually is…and how transformative it can be for our communities.

Unlike revenue streams such as sales tax and conventional property taxes, the LVT doesn’t punish the poor, incentivize slumlords and vacant lots, or pit communities against one another to use subsidies to lure big retailers. Quite the opposite: the land value tax encourages investment and incremental development while going a long way toward protecting the most vulnerable in our towns and cities.

In our series, we make an economic and a values-based case for the LVT. We demonstrate how conventional approaches to taxation de-incentivize the kind of growth our communities actually need. We present case studies of just how impactful the LVT can be on a city. And we lay out some practical next steps for people who want to become champions for an approach to taxation that deserves to be more well-known (and more widely implemented) than it is.

Our hopes for this series in December are the same as they were in March: to demystify the land value tax, and to encourage and empower local leaders to explore whether the land value tax is right for their communities too.

The land value tax series was made possible by the Robert Schalkenbach Foundation. We are grateful for their generous support.

— Strong Towns Staff