by Frank de Jong Carbon levies are fraught with variables, a whack-a-mole game of cascading effects. But interestingly, I think they will reduce both housing costs and C02 emissions. If fossil energy was purely a house-like asset, i.e., the price reflecting the cost of production,… Read More »Rev up the Carbon Taxes
Yesim Sayin Taylor / October 21, 2019 The idea of imposing a “land value tax” in the District pops up from time to time. Rick Rybeck at Just Economics has been promoting land value taxes for as far as I could remember. Both the 2013… Read More »Land Value Tax: Can it Work in the District?
By Divya Singh In recent decades, significant increases in the rent-to-income ratios have worsened the affordability of living in cities across the world. A widely promulgated solution is to build more housing in cities. But if there is an excessive demand for housing in cities,… Read More »Property Tax Incentives for New Housing Spurred Gentrification in New York City
The earth is our common home. Most, if not all, people would agree with this principal statement, at least conceptually and in the abstract. But what could be a comprehensive practical implementation of this principal statement that would be of social and economic benefit to… Read More »The Commons
It’s a new year, and there are new things in the works at RSF! More specifically, we’ve welcomed some new faces to our team – which in my opinion, is the best way possible to be starting off this new year and new decade. Much… Read More »New Undertakings, New Staff
Imagine living in an indigenous, pre-modern and traditional community such as existed in the Amazon prior to the invasions by Brazilian miners and farmers. Would anyone in such a community be homeless? Of course not. Any capable member of the community would be able to… Read More »Housing Affordability
By Fred Foldvary Two economists at the University of California at Berkeley, Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman, have written a book, The Triumph of Injustice: How the Rich Dodge Taxes and How to Make Them Pay. A review by William G. Gale in the Brookings web… Read More »What Do You Know About Taxes? Wrong!
“But then all real estate would go to its highest and best use,” the man complained. “Yes! Yes!” I replied. “That’s the point. That’s good.” The man was trying very hard to understand my position but seemed baffled, and I had no good response beyond… Read More »Solving the “Affordable Housing” Problem with Land value Taxes
By Frank de Jong The many organizations around the world that work to popularize the work of nineteenth-century American economist Henry George have three goals: a just society, a green society, and a prosperous society. Collectively, these organizations constitute an interconnected think tank advocating financing… Read More »What’s So Special about Henry George Anyway?
On October 25, 2019, the Minneapolis City Council approved the “Minneapolis 2040” plan. City officials produced it to guide the development of Minnesota’s largest city into the mid-21st century. The plan focuses on a variety of developmental areas, such as jobs, education, the environment, and… Read More »The Minneapolis 2040 Plan Is Unlikely to Provide Affordable Housing
