However, these proposed fixes fail to address a deeper and more fundamental issue: adding such patches to the LVT fundamentally undermines its ability to function as a substantial source of tax revenue.
Even in its simplest “naive” form, the LVT has a narrow tax base. The reality is that the vast majority of global wealth is created through human labor and innovation, not through the inherent value of natural or undeveloped land. If this sounds counterintuitive to you, perhaps imagine being transported to Earth millions of years ago, before humans evolved. Being the only human on Earth, you’d “own” all the natural resources on the planet, but you’d be unable to access almost any of the value tied up in those resources, because unlocking that value requires human labor and tools that haven’t been invented yet.