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25 votes
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How did Helsinki make transit work in the suburbs?
9 votes -
Houston has seen a gentle density revolution since the 1990s. Allowing neighborhoods to opt out of citywide reforms was crucial.
18 votes -
Edinburgh's Beltane Fire Festival, rooted in ancient Gaelic traditions, heralds the beginning of summer and celebrates the cycles of nature. The vibrant event now draws over 8,000 attendees each year.
10 votes -
The woman who built up Edinburgh's army of street stitchers
14 votes -
Experimental real property tax basis-set rate based on usable area per person
Random thought. What if we taxed property based on the area per person of the property, as opposed to sale value? Edit and quick intro to those who mostly rent: most real property in the US,...
Random thought. What if we taxed property based on the area per person of the property, as opposed to sale value?
Edit and quick intro to those who mostly rent: most real property in the US, especially residential property, is taxed yearly based on some variation of something called "fair market value," usually assessed by a local tax assessor's office
I'm proposing that a property would be taxed for every square meter of space per person in the designated property unit. It can't be totally simplified, but should be fairly straightforward. There could also be progressive brackets. It might not make make sense to apply it strictly per person, but rather for a typical use. That is, we would assume "single family residential" properties to house 3.4 (totally made up number) people per house and property.
The goal of this is to find a fair, market-driven incentive to build density into urban cores.
A similar approach could be applied to commercial space (but probably not industrial).
It could be coupled with a sales tax (currently missing in most real property tax regimes, at least in the US) to capture runaway property valuations in certain jurisdictions.
Alternatively, we could drop the property value based tax rate (but not eliminate it), and then add a per person-area surcharge.
It's not meant to increase revenue, although it could certainly be used that way. It could also be use to decrease revenue, and maybe that would be a good way to sell it. But at the end of the day, developers and residents would both have an incentive to pursue as dense development as possible, even if there is not a density driving pressure of desirablity, which only exists in a few really cool urban cores.
8 votes -
Unlocking the mystery of Paris' most secret underground society
14 votes -
The 2,000 year-old city of mosaics
2 votes -
The cycling revolution in Paris continues: Bicycle use now exceeds car use
57 votes -
Lies, confections, distortions: how the right made London the most vilified place in Britain
9 votes -
European Commission approves creation of an environmental zone in the city centre of Stockholm, where petrol and diesel cars will be banned entirely from 2025
25 votes -
Saudi Arabia’s 105-mile long Line city has been cut a little short – by 103.5 miles
28 votes -
Tokyo starts ride-hailing service — but it may not be what you expect
19 votes -
Copenhagen and Paris mayors exchange lessons learned after huge fires destroy landmarks
12 votes -
In Berlin, I experience icks I never thought possible
15 votes