From: ahk@chinet.com   
      
   Stephen Sprunk  wrote:   
   >On 29-Mar-15 12:05, Adam H. Kerman wrote:   
   >>Stephen Sprunk  wrote:   
   >>>On 28-Mar-15 18:39, Adam H. Kerman wrote:   
      
   >>>>I suppose if one doesn't wish to use the existing building, or   
   >>>>the current building is a wreck due to fire, but it's still   
   >>>>desireable to build on the site, once money is spent to clear the   
   >>>>site, the value of the vacant site could be higher than the value   
   >>>>of the site that requires clearance.   
      
   >>>If the current use is not the highest and best use of the land,   
   >>>then the total property value should be less than the land value,   
   >>>to account for the cost of clearing the current improvements.  IOW,   
   >>>the improvements' value would be negative--yet another reason to   
   >>>tax only land value.   
      
   >>Quite so. You've done some reading on this since last we spoke.   
      
   >P&P was the first economics book I've had that actually makes sense,   
   >though it's so different from what I was taught in school that it took a   
   >while (and several re-readings) for it to fully sink in.   
      
   I'm very glad to hear that. When I was in college, I read all the   
   books they had from the 1920s and earlier on single tax, which I   
   actually read before Progress and Poverty.   
      
   >TSoPE is brutal, though; I've been working on it for six months and   
   >haven't even gotten halfway through.   
      
   I didn't read that till I took a class at the Chicago school. It   
   helps a lot to read it with the weekly lesson. Still, George's   
   philosophy was more advanced at this point and some of the ideas   
   are better spelled out. No, it lacks the beautiful prose of P&P.   
      
   >Ah.  One of the reasons real estate is so cheap in Texas is that cities,   
   >counties and school districts get pretty much all of their funding from   
   >property taxes.  (Cities get some sales tax money too, but not a lot.)   
   >That keeps property values low and stable, growing roughly with the   
   >general rate of inflation.  Since land values indirectly affect the   
   >price of everything, that keeps the total cost of living down.  And we   
   >do have the usual exemptions for homesteads and seniors.   
      
   Hah! Who knew the Texas legislature got some aspects of tax reform right?   
      
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