All over town, buildings sit empty, somehow unused despite a fierce shortage of housing and a long-running development boom that has transformed long-quiet patches of the city into hot property. [...]
Some are better kept than others. Some have more prestigious addresses. But each is a puzzle unto its own.
— Boston Globe
Boston Globe reporter Tim Logan investigates the factors behind Boston's many vacant buildings — despite a booming real estate market. "Even crumbling and empty buildings serve a purpose in a new Boston where so much is shiny and fresh," writes Logan.
13 Comments
in a growing city with a healthy economy, unused land is always symptomatic of an ineffective land use policy.
land value tax - long ago proposed by economists, and widely regarded as one of the fairest, most progressive, and simplest forms of taxation. never widely implemented because it opposes the interests of landowners, who are by and large the most politically advantaged class in any society.
The city needs to write off the back taxes owed and auction off the buildings. Any historic preservation requirements could remain in effect but the building's taxes need to be reappraised to their current value which is close to zero. The land does have appreciable value and the new owners should pay that tax and a fair tax on the new or restored structures.
Exactly
LVT in not a panacea, and has been proposed as a way to eliminate most other taxes - i.e., to benefit a select group. A progressive property tax on the other hand would be a huge benefit to the middle and working class by shifting the property tax burden proportionally upward, where it belongs. Property taxes as implemented (flat tax) are regressive. But this is only one aspect of economic inequality.
As to the empty buildings in Boston, markets are shaky now, and it in the absence of progressive government it is left to developers to "revitalize" them. Into luxury loft condos.
Yeah, they need “progressive” govt like the ones in LA and SF. That will bring costs down and human street poop can be used as fertilizer the new golf courses...Progressive policies have failed over and over. People are fleeing high tax states and moving to low tax states. The only ones who remain are the poor and the 1%. Taxes kill working and middle class neighborhoods.
Property taxes especially hurt residents who bought into areas decades ago when cheap, and then got taxes steadily raised on them over the decades.
The thing you argued against in your first reply would solve the thing you complain about in your second reply.
When I see comments like that I *almost* want to unblick jlax
Nope. Eliminate property taxes all together will solve it. It’s a stupid tax. Raise sales taxes on non-essential goods to raise revenues. Those who consume more will pay more. Very simple without all the sjw class warfare shit. The rich will end up paying more anyway because they buy more.
Property taxes are one of the reasons we have such imbalance between neighborhoods. Eliminate most zoning and property taxes and things would even out. sales tax... This should be statewide and evenly distributed.
I have no problem with sales tax because it’s a voluntary transaction. We can even tax stuff harsher based on Some embodied energy, pollution, lifecycle metric to encourage sustainability and mitigate the associated costs a little.
Your strain on society/planet is directly proportional to your resource space, not your income or neighborhood. Taxation should reflect that.
tduds, we can’t have neighborhoods where some residents pay more for the same shit as others based on seniority/income. This is a divisive way to do things and just breeds animosity. Andrew Yangs 1000 UBI for all is a good example of how a safety net policy can be implemented in a non-divisive way. We need a fair system. A pay as you go system. Not a system that punishes success and rewards misfortune. That’s a recipe for failure.
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