ground rents, direct democracy, and volunteers
April 13, 2018 11:26 AM   Subscribe

 
FASCINATING. thank you so much for sharing this.
posted by EricGjerde at 1:04 PM on April 13, 2018


I love this. If I was moving to Delaware I'd try to get in on it.
posted by elizilla at 1:08 PM on April 13, 2018


I've never understood a land value tax, or how it could ever be implemented at scale. It just seems like a property tax where your tax is based on your neighbor's property value rather than your own, or a round-about property tax, as there is no inherent value computed for land and is still 100% dependent upon improvements plus vague guesswork.

Practically, I don't think taxes (or a land value tax specifically) could be high enough to specifically encourage any kind of development pattern - there are just too many other factors at play.

I understand that you are trying to capture network effects - in my opinion the most efficient way to do that would be to calculate the actual public investment and a depreciation schedule made to the land plus connectivity and derive a tax rate from that. In our day of computer aided mapping and property databases it'd be much more feasible and fair than a round-about property tax. And then let people self-select into their own high/low services 'villages' within a city without it requiring a move to a different state.

Whatever. The article isn't really about that, but rather about the juxtapositions between small town life (which is still like that in many places- and rigid suburbia and how refreshing it is and weird historical battles that come from being filled with slightly weird people and oddly governed. I wish it went into that more - I don't really understand the differences between a land trust/municipality and any other place.

"The town's slogan is "You are welcome hither," and there doesn't seem to be a shortage of people willing to take the offer." Not sure about that, as there are only 400 residents!
posted by The_Vegetables at 1:09 PM on April 13, 2018


Don't forget about The Arden Shakespeare Gild!
posted by MonkeyToes at 4:52 PM on April 13, 2018


I do not understand the Arden tax thing at all but I go to their events, like the Shakespeare Gild and the Arden Fair a lot.

I have always loved the Sinclair Lewis arrested for playing baseball on Sunday thing. He threatened to write an expose of the New Castle County Workhouse after his release but as far as I can tell he never did.
posted by interplanetjanet at 8:20 AM on April 16, 2018


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