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Slumlords - LVT could bring a resolution
"How, in the city promoted as Historical Philadelphia, home of Independence Hall where the United States Constitution and Bill of Rights was signed, has it been so easy for privileged speculators and slumlords to swoop in and violate our economic rights? It has been through the current property tax policy."
States Could Reduce Taxes for Most Taxpayers while Stimulating their Economies
23 brief summaries of empirical studies
Fixing a Hole Where the Rain Gets In
On an individual house-by-house basis, the City will provide: 1. Homebuyer Incentives, 2. Purchase and Renovation, 3. Gap-Financing for Market-Catalyzing Anchor Developments Our Common Wealth’s Big Concern: the Taxes. The firms that do the work will pay the same high business privilege taxes. The materials to build the houses will pay an 8% sales tax (assuming the contractors buy in Philadelphia instead of Delaware). Presuming that these homes will be on the tax rolls, does this not consign each and every rescued home to a higher assessment, and therefore a higher tax bill?
Land Value Taxation – the Case for Right Now
Our Foundation has been researching and implementing land value taxation since 1926 Our experience statewide in research on the land tax and in issues concerning implementation is second to none. Currently 21 jurisdictions employ this program in Pennsylvania. We bring you a message from these cities and their officials: shifting taxes from buildings to land value works, is practical and should be done. In times of recession, with falling revenues from taxation of business and work, Philadelphia must eventually accept that a well-constructed real estate tax, based primarily on land value is a fair, stable and efficient source of public revenue.
Announcing a series of Classes on Why Our Economy is (not) Working
The theoretical underpinning of land value tax is based on a philosophy of economic justice and sanity that does not depend on the old assumptions of "left" and "right." Learn more at a series of classes on the subject of why land value tax is a unique and essential tool for any person or any government.
Saturday morning with the land value tax - January 24, 2009
Join the staff of the Henry George Foundation for coffee and crumpets as we look at how exactly LVT will work, either as part of a property tax shift from buildings, or as a part of a budget-deficit plugging package. Data, maps and straight talk. Graphics will make what may seem like a dry subject come alive.
LVT Jurisdictions and Rates
In Harrisburg, the tax on improvements is only one sixth the tax on land -- many economists credit the "Renaissance" of Pittsburgh over the last two decades to Pittsburgh's shift to Land Value Taxation in 1978. Towns as small as Steelton (pop.2,500) to as large as Allentown (pop. 105,000) have used LVT successfully in Pennsylvania.
Talking Taxes in South Philly
The Citizens' Budget Session Include two-minute videos. HGFA jumps into the mix...
Philadelphia's Slice of the Economic Pie
What Philadelphia does have are pockets of viable communities, anchors: a few Fortune 500 companies such as, Comcast, CIGNA, Aramark, Sunoco, Crown Holdings, Lincoln National Corp., and the 4th highest nationally rated higher education institution – the University of Pennsylvania. Temple University like the University of Pennsylvania did make the national listing, ranking as a 3rd tier higher education institution. Thomas Jefferson, Drexel, etc. did not make the national listing yet their regional rankings are meaningful. Philadelphia’s piece of the economic pie can expand, has potential and, more than most Pennsylvania cities, can build to increase our portion. Yet current tax policies in this city relative to property, wage and business taxes, and substandard elementary, middle and high school public education institutions hinder substantial growth.
Economic Stability - Upcoming Events
Speaking Events and Programs - Increasing public awareness If you know of, or are involved with, an organization devoted to community planning, economic development, and policy makers concerned with land use and economic development we hope to meet with you at...
Moving our office and web sites
Users please note: we may be offline periodically between now and March 31, 2009. We thank you for your patience.
The Mayor Wants Your Comments
This budget crisis is real, and needs constructive commentary and suggestions. To that end, the Mayor of Philadelphia's Office has a questionnaire in which every citizen should participate.
City Paper's Cover Story
Why a holistic economic program that gives special emphasis to land - and yes - land value taxation is so essential to Philadelphia. Courtesy of one of our board Members, Paul Glover.
Now, more than ever LVT
Land values becoming the basis of the property tax system right now will serve as a fairer transition towards and after adoption to new values. Remember, it was November 2002 that 80% of voters in Philadelphia approved (through ballot) creation of the Tax Reform Commission, which recommended implementation of LVT.
Land Values and Public Transportation: An Essential Link
Land Value Capture as a process to fund public transportation has been used for years and is rapidly gaining adherents.
5-6-2009 Testimony on Land Value Taxation
The process of the final push for LVT in Philadelphia for FY2010 will begin this afternoon. Here is the testimony our organization will be presenting. Our goal is to get a full hearing on the subject.
Lets Make the Best Deal on Tax Reform
Why are so many Philadelphians struggling with back taxes? Could it be they're carrying an unfair burden to begin with?
HGFA's Remedy to Philadelphia City Council budget woes
The economically just and responsible option that would assist Philadelphia now and before next year's similar budget debate would be to enactment LVT.
Our Efforts in the U.K.
At a time when U.S. government is facing a federal deficit of nearly $1.4 trillion, Britain’s annual budget deficit stands at $225 billion for 2009-2010. Gordon Brown’s resignation as prime minister brought a close the Labour Party led government providing a new political reality – David Cameron’s Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats led by Nick Clegg – the U.K.’s first coalition government. An effective and economically stable land tax policy is needed and our colleagues in the U.K. are working tirelessly, just as HGFA/CSE are doing in the U.S., to ensure the proper remedy is applied.
The Foreclosures of Philadelphia: A daunting challenge
To reside in Philadelphia means paying a flat and regressive wage tax, a punitive 8% sales tax on many essential items, and then, homeowners must meet a mortgage obligation in a city with a property tax policy that penalizes the homeowner for maintaining their home. Land value tax/AXI is a remedy - With a simple shift in rates to a heaver tax on land values, in the first year, one actual homeowner facing foreclosure could save 10% on their annual tax bill.
Center for the Study of Economics proposes several policy adaptations to Act 47
Recommendation 1: Change the tax structure, Recommendation 2: Require frequent revaluations, Recommendation 3: Allow innovative restructuring of the real property tax, Recommendation 4: Reduce the amount of tax-exempt property
Fixing Property Tax Accounting Issues
The accounting now used for valuing real property contains a fixable flaw, a flaw that has severely undermined our Common Wealth communities for decades. By devaluing land use, thereby placing emphasis on the structures placed on that land, we have encouraged rent-seekers whose “contribution” of vacant lots/blighted neighborhood areas are consuming city funds that could be used to build up as opposed to tear down this city.
Henry George School of Social Science Free Courses SPRING 2010
Afternoon and Evening Classes begin the week of April 12th, 2010 Once a Week for Ten Weeks. Part I:FUNDAMENTAL ECONOMICS, Part II:Applied Economics and Part III:Economic Science. Free Friday Films: 04/16 MONEY AS DEBT, 05/07 BLUE GOLD: WORLD WATER WARS , 06/11 MANUFACTURING CONSENT
Philadelphia Budget Gap Solution
According to KYW’s Mike Dunn’s report this past Thursday Councilman DiCicco has proposed a 12-percent real estate tax in lieu of the Mayor’s $300 flat rate trash tax. Property tax is a common staple. A soda “sin” tax, flat rate trash tax that penalizes the poorest in this city, or real estate tax that protects all those already Abated Properties, slumlords, and speculators while levying heavy burdens on others is not a solution in a city that is experiencing a 10.6 percent unemployment rate. We at the Henry George Foundation of America do not support band-aid, scotch tape tax policy. Instead, we propose a remedy, a fair, concrete tool that penalizes speculators, encourages healthier communities and combats sprawl.
