How Georgists Valued land in the 1900's

YIMBY, Community Input, and Veto Power

• Debate over whether “community input is bad” or whether the real problem is giving local groups de facto veto power.
• Some argue neighborhood processes amplify NIMBYs and block democratically approved projects (high‑speed rail, apartments), privileging nearby owners over the wider public.
• Others note historic cases where community opposition stopped destructive megaprojects (e.g., expressways), so input can be beneficial.
• Disagreement over what “community” means: immediate neighbors vs town/metro residents who share infrastructure and benefits.

Externalities, Zoning, and Local Control

• Long subthread on externalities: one side says businesses impose net negative spillovers on non‑customers; others counter that many firms create net positive spillovers and that trade surplus is shared.
• Example: slaughterhouses and affordable apartments show why relying on small-area vetoes shifts “undesirable” uses into powerless neighborhoods.
• Some argue such allocation should be handled at higher levels of government to avoid every neighborhood defecting on its share of negative externalities.
• Concern that banning home businesses or low-end housing types (trailers, rooming houses) removes vital “bottom rungs” of the housing ladder.

Land Value Tax and Valuation Methods

• Several comments stress that separating land and improvement value is routine for assessors and insurers; land valuation isn’t novel.
• Somers-style “ask the community” valuation is seen as intuitively workable at neighborhood level but questioned on scalability and incentives (no direct cost to misreporting).
• Some suggest Harberger‑style “self‑assessment equals sale offer” as a more incentive-compatible approach to valuation.

Impacts on Homeowners and the Elderly

• Strong concern that high LVT could force elderly, low‑income owners out as neighborhood land values rise, undermining homeownership as retirement security.
• Georgist responses: distinguish LVT from traditional property tax; propose deferrals, phased increases, or exemptions, with tax recovered at sale/estate.
• Normative split: some see relocating retirees from prime job centers as efficient and fair; others see forced moves as destabilizing and morally objectionable.

Harberger / Self-Assessed Schemes: Risks and Edge Cases

• Worries about wealthy actors gaming self-assessed systems by placing strategic bids to raise others’ tax burdens or force sales.
• Proposed safeguards include court review, minimum bid increments, and limits on abusive offers, but critics argue this still risks harming “grandma,” not just corporations.

Single Tax Scale and Practicality

• Back-of-envelope claim that a near-100% LVT could theoretically fund all US government plus a citizen dividend; others call this unrealistic and economically disruptive (land values collapsing, farming burdened).
• Broader skepticism that any country has actually solved speculation and affordability; some think zoning/land release and large-scale public landholding are bigger levers than tax design alone.