LVT Landscape #3: LVT Momentum is Worldwide

It's more than South Korea's new president supporting Land Value Tax.

Welcome to the third addition of LVT Landscape, a roundup of the movement in the land value tax implementation. The last Landscape was over two months ago! Perhaps I need to put this out more frequently?

This Landscape edition is structured differently than past ones, using bullet points. And, for the first time, I will be featuring information beyond the US. Finally! I hope to cover more international content. If you have context on land value tax in non-US countries, please reach out.

International Movement:

• South Korea: South Korea elected a president who has once espoused land value taxes. Read more in Steve’s post.
  
  

• Wales: Wales’ Finance Secretary, Mark Drakeford, has indicated that plans to transition to a land value tax are very much being considered. Drakeford started as finance secretary late last year; he has had a career in government as well as a long career as a professor in social policy. He has been an LVT supporter for quite some time and has begun looking for proposals on how to value land. He has spoken multiple times in the past couple of months promoting land value taxes. Here is him describing the importance of land valuation techniques (expect more from Lars and I next month on land valuation and OpenAVMKit, an open-source property valuation engine).

In this last year, we will do some of the most practical investigation of how you can attach a value to land, one of the big stumbling blocks in implementing land value taxation, and I think we are in a position where there are new techniques, new data sources, new ways of being able to use that information to try and make some inroads into that policy challenge, and I'm cheered up by the fact that, having put out a tender, with some voices telling us there wouldn't be any interest in doing the work, we've actually had successful tenders in for every aspect of the work that we've commissioned.

Mark Drakeford, June 10

Mark Drakeford, Wales Finance Minister, speaking on Land Value Taxes

• New Zealand: Jesse Richardson, co-founder of Common Ground Aotearoa, reports significant progress in advocating for land value taxation (LVT) in New Zealand, particularly in Wellington. Their focus is on shifting local government "rates" (taxes) from capital value to land value. While many local governments previously used land value as their tax base, in recent times most have switched to capital value due to a misconception that property taxes are more progressive. New Zealand's severe housing affordability crisis has spurred a strong pro-housing movement, creating a favorable environment for LVT, particularly in progressive areas like Wellington, the capital city.
  
  A bare majority of the Wellington City Council, elected in October 2022, now supports switching to LVT. Although the timeline has been pushed back, Common Ground Aotearoa is focused on ensuring that these pro-LVT candidates secure a majority in the upcoming October elections. Support for LVT is widespread among progressive candidates. The organization is seeking support (time, expertise, and particularly financial contributions) to expand their campaign. Contact Jesse Richardson at jesse@common-ground.org.nz.
  
  

• Bogota, Colombia: The World Bank published a report outlining the land value capture strategies practiced in Bogota. In their words, “Bogotá’s experience serves as a beacon of innovation and resilience.”
  
  The report lays out Bogota’s history of using valorization taxes to fund public infrastructure across 5 major proposed transit projects in the city. While these taxes were typically structured as one-time payments, they still present a vision toward value capture strategies.
  
  

• Saudi Arabia: Saudi Arabia’s “White Land Tax” applies to undeveloped urban land and has been significantly strengthened. Recent amendments approved in April 2025 increase the potential annual tax to as much as 10% of the land's assessed value, a substantial rise from the previous 2.5% flat rate. The reforms also expand the definition of "white land" to encompass any unused land capable of development within city boundaries and, for the first time, introduce a new tax on vacant, already-built properties of up to 5% of their value. These changes represent a major push to discourage land hoarding, stimulate development, and increase the housing supply.
  
  Vacant taxes are being considered and adopted frequently. Here’s our take on these taxes that specifically target vacant land: in theory they tax vacant land more–which is great–but they are easily evaded by building whatever bare minimum structure triggers “not vacant land” status. They are good insofar as they move in the direction of land value taxes, but insufficient by themselves to truly resolve land speculation in urban cores.

US Legislation:

• New York: Buffalo Mayoral Candidate and State Senator Sean Ryan has endorsed exploring land value taxes as a path forward for Buffalo. This adds to the movement in New York as the state considers legislation to pass a pilot program enabling cities to enact land value taxes. New York is a home rule state which means Buffalo does not need to wait on the state; they can pass a home rule charter asking for approval.
  

  

  NY State Senator Sean Ryan speaking on his vision for Buffalo.

• Maine: The Maine Legislature introduced legislation in mid-April to enable local jurisdictions to enact land value taxes. In May, the legislation was voted down. Not surprising given this was the first introduction of the bill in Maine.
  
  As an aside, Maine is a rural state, and there are still open research questions for how to account for non-building improvements in an agricultural context, such as soil quality, irrigation, crops, etc, which a proper agricultural LVT should in theory exempt.

  
  That said, I have spoken to multiple Georgist farmers who favor land value taxes because local farmers are much more efficient with their land than large corporate farmers. I second Steve’s proposal in the comment section of a previous post to exempt a low $/acre across all land which would result in exempting most farm land.
  

• Minnesota: The Minnesota LVT enablement bill was tabled as it got rolled as one piece of a much larger tax bill. Minnesota then called a special session to sprint 14 budget bills through in one day. As part of that process, they pruned some of the “new” stuff, including the LVT piece in the tax bill. Minnesota operates on two-year legislative cycles, so the legislation will be considered in the next legislative session.
  
  

Other Reports

• Bush Center: The Bush Institute, a think tank under the George W Bush Presidential Center, recommended land value taxes as part of its policy proposals for states to increase housing supply.
  
  

• StrongTowns: The Progress and Poverty Institute, Urban3, and the Center for Land Economics led a panel on land value taxes at the Strong Towns national gathering. The event was sponsored by the Center for the Study of Economics.
  
  

• Ohio Capital Journal: Ohio is one of the Republican states flirting with eliminating property taxes completely. Ohio Capital Journal points to the flaws in this proposal, and suggests a land value tax.
  
  As we like to say: if these Republican states want to end up like California (which famously gutted their property tax system), feel free. We think that’d be a bad idea, and that universal building exemption might be a better approach for delivering comprehensive property tax reform that actually works.

Did I miss anything? Shoot me an email: greg@landeconomics.org.