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naraburns  nihil supernum  2yr ago (text post)   33194 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of October 10, 2022

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If you set your asking price correctly, then this should be priced in.

If you know even a smidgen about the financial acumen and long-term planning capabilities of the median American, you should realize that just about no-one will set their asking price """correctly""".

You could offload a significant portion of the price-setting burden to professionals by inverting the system. Have purchase offers go through the government land registry, and base the land tax on the highest offer rejected in the past year or something.

Offers unanswered in some time are rejected by default, and you have a somewhat fair system to assess land value for tax purposes where the owner isn't forced into regular active price setting or having to sell for a previously committed price.

In such a system purchase offers would presumably need collateral or preapproved mortgages to ensure against frivolous purchase offers.

This makes the argument for getting value-producing assets out of their hands stronger.

Why are we letting financial illiterates sit on land that could be producing much greater value? This is no way to run an economy!

But more seriously, fine. Require that they consult with a professional before declaring a price. An agent of sorts. Ah, there we go. Lets set up a profession of "Real Estate Agents", who are familiar with local market conditions, that people can hire so they can set a good asking price for their house and not get taken advantage of by buyers. Maybe require licensing.

Crazy idea, I know.

Why are we letting financial illiterates sit on land that could be producing much greater value?

Because its their land, and properly their decision to sit on it or not. Not yours, not even "ours".

Right, and the issue of people being too financially illiterate to know the 'right' price for their property has been solved for decades upon decades, so this is simply not a good objection to the overall point.

Why are we letting financial illiterates sit on land that could be producing much greater value? This is no way to run an economy!

People are not cogs in an economy. An "economy" is literally the art and science of managing households. To destroy the concept of a household in the service of household management would be a horrifying historical irony, and so fundamentally inhuman I'm having trouble staying civil over it.

How is it unfair to have someone name the value they believe their house is worth for taxation purposes, but fair to have the government declare a value and tax on that value by fiat?

That's been my point the entire time. The most fair way to do a land value tax is to have the person who owns the land declare the value, whilst holding them to said valuation if a sale offer is made.

Financial illiteracy is not a viable objection to this because it is a solved problem.

You did not propose having someone name their value for taxation purposes; you proposed having people name the price at which they would be obligated to accept and sell.

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