Re-New London Council   Creating a Sustainable Community

Welcome to the Re-New London Council Blog where discussions about creating a sustainable New London and outlying areas are welcome.

Locally yours,
Art Costa

There are two essential problems in the New London land tax matter.

1. The underlying premise of George's theory is that land would be taxed at the value at it's highest and best use. The current land assessments almost certainly employ values of each property's existing use. In order to be successful, New London will need to revalue land.

2. Residential land values, as measured in most price units (square feet and acres), tends to be more valuable than commercial and industrial land values. I predict that the shift to land value taxation will result in a large shift in the tax base to residential property owners. Since CT does not permit classification in its assessments or mill rates, the shift in tax base will result in large increases in residential property taxes.

The second problem is the fatal problem to the program. Residential property owners represent voters. Angry voters throw out politicians who make them angry.