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Notes -
Used buildings don’t get the FairTax, new buildings/developments do. I haven’t examined the details of this aspect further yet.
The FairTax will be on new structures only, or on construction materials and services for refurbishment of a used building. Speculation remains part of the price, unlike Georgeism, but it also means the owner is truly the owner.
This is gonna cause a lot of house of Theseus situations. If a new building gets mega taxed and a refurbished old warehouse gets 0 tax, then every extant structure when the law passes will be upcycled forever. Wherever the line gets drawn on what a "new" house is, people will stop just short of it. If the point of refurbishment is where the taxation happens, people will make small incremental improvements that don't warrant a tax audit or what have you. Also what about land? just not taxed anymore? Not much new land being sold in the US.
Also this hugely incentivizes people to just try and fix/improve stuff themselves, when they really shouldn't. If i'm building my own new gazebo would i get taxed on the input materials i buy? What if it's a business gazebo, for hosting business lunches?
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