Land Value Tax And What It Can Do For Idaho

Land Value Tax: What it is and What it Can Do for Idaho

Taxation without representation was the main justification for the United States Declaration of Independence and subsequent war with Great Britain, and today many citizens believe they are fairly represented in government and thus equally fairly taxed. Unfortunately, economical taxation does not necessarily occur because citizens can choose their own representatives. When the issue does come up, many citizens think of the amount of taxation as the problem rather than the type of taxation; indeed, some do not even consider that there are different ways to tax besides the current tax system. There is a tax, however little known and little acknowledged, that will revolutionize the economy

Under this system, any piece of land worth $5000 would be taxed the exact same amount as every other piece of land worth $5000. This computed worth of the land disregards any value added to the land by improvements, improvements meaning any buildings, businesses, landscaping, or personal property on the land that would increase the straight selling value. Also, the value of the land is not necessarily based on size; for example, land the size of an acre in New York City would obviously be worth much more than an acre of land in Rexburg, Idaho. It is dissimilar to a property tax in that it does not tax based on personal property, buildings, or other improvements on the

Their American forefathers believed that man had few basic rights, and that among these few are the right to life, liberty, and property. To protect these rights, “governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed” (Declaration of Independence). It may be inferred that the taxes under which citizens labor are not as they would like them to be, these citizens can take the steps to pass a new tax law. It may be passed through the conventional methods. Citizens simply elect a representative whose platform includes passing a land value tax, or write a bill themselves and present it to a representative so he or she can introduce it to the Idaho State Legislature (How a Bill Becomes a Law). The bill will then be voted on and passed, if enough citizens have chosen representatives that will vote for