David C. Lincoln Fellowships for 2002-2003 (Land Lines Article)

Publication Date: January 2003

Inventory ID LLA030107; English

Article

The David C. Lincoln Fellowships in Land Value Taxation were established in 1999 to develop academic and professional interest in land value taxation through support for major research projects. The fellowship program honors David C. Lincoln, chairman of the Lincoln Foundation and founding chairman of the Lincoln Institute, and his long-standing interest in land value taxation. The fellowship program encourages scholars and practitioners to undertake new work in this field, either in the basic theory of land value taxation or its application. The projects will add to the body of knowledge and understanding of land value taxation as a component of contemporary fiscal systems throughout the world.

The fellowships announced here are the fourth group to be awarded under this program; several recipients are continuing projects from last year. The deadline for the next annual application process is September 15, 2003. For more information, contact fellowships@lincolninst.edu or visit the fellowships page.

Legislative Opinion of Land Value Taxation
David Brunori
Tax Analysts/State Tax Notes
Arlington, Virginia

This project involves a comprehensive, statistically meaningful survey of legislators in each of 50 states. The goal is to ascertain American legislators' level of awareness and knowledge of land value taxation.

Two-Rate Property Taxation in New Hampshire: Turning Promise into Reality
Richard W. England
Professor of Economics and Natural Resources
University of New Hampshire
Durham, New Hampshire

This project will pursue three goals: (1) organizing a training workshop on land value taxation for New Hampshire state and local officials; (2) analyzing municipal assessment data for several New Hampshire cities to discover how the property tax burden would be redistributed if those
cities were to make a revenue-neutral shift from a uniform property tax to a two-rate system of property taxation; and (3) drafting a model statute that would enable city governments in New
Hampshire to adopt two-rate property taxation.

Property Taxes in the British Commonwealth
Riël Franzsen
Department of Mercantile Law
University of South Africa
Pretoria, South Africa

William McCluskey
School of the Built Environment
University of Ulster
Jordanstown, Northern Ireland

The aim of this project is to collect and collate property tax data on 37 of the 54 member states of the British Commonwealth. An analysis of property tax systems in these countries, spread across the globe, should lead to a better understanding of the international use of property taxes. The diversity of countries allows for interesting comparisons as member states differ in terms of size, population, per capita income, stages of economic development, and political, land tenure and legal systems. The availability of data and more detailed information on assessment and collection ‘best practices’ from the more developed member states could benefit less developed jurisdictions in need of assistance and advice.

Land Market Understanding is the Basis for Smart Change
Courtney Alfred Haff, AICP
The Real Estate Institute
New York University
Haff Associates (Investment Banking, Market Analysis,
Land Planning and Conservation Appraisals)
Great Barrington, Massachusetts and New York, New York

A land value survey and map of Lower Manhattan’s residential, vacant and publicly owned land markets sets the framework for examining land value trends from the days of New Amsterdam to the Wall Street of the future. Initially, the survey will focus on the impact of September 11, 2001 on the course of such trends. Examination of smart growth options, community preservation and policy change within this urban land market in transition requires an understanding of the influence of transportation improvements, waterfront access and land value change on housing development, the cost and benefit of open space and the potential for preservation and reuse of old buildings for housing. Land policy options will be analyzed using spatial analysis techniques and geographic information systems to assess the importance of location, land use regulation, land tax policy, public investment, open space and other economic factors on land value and property development potential.

Potential Roles of Land Value Taxation in China’s Tax Reform
Yu-Hung Hong
Department of Public Administration and Urban Studies
University of Akron
Akron, Ohio

This project will explore the possibilities as well as limitations of establishing land value taxation systems in the People’s Republic of China. The goals are to examine the varieties of practice and experience in levying taxes (or fees) related to land and buildings in different parts of the country, current property taxes as components of local government fiscal systems, and the potential for utilization of land value taxation. In-depth personal interviewees and focus groups will be conducted in major coastal cities and selected rural areas in China.

Land Taxes and Revenue Needs as Communities Grow and Decline: Evidence from New Zealand
Suzi Kerr and Arthur Grimes
Motu Economic and Public Policy Research
Wellington, New Zealand
and
William McCluskey
School of the Built Environment
University of Ulster
Jordanstown, Northern Ireland

In 1998, 56 percent of New Zealand local government revenue came from property taxes. What drives long-term changes in the property/land tax base? How responsive is land tax revenue to external shocks? How does a ‘property tax’ empirically differ from a ‘land tax’ in terms of the variability of the tax base? We will combine economic analysis based on an extremely rich dataset with valuation techniques to identify causes and levels of fiscal stress and study the responses of local governments. Based on these empirical results we will assess how reliant local government should be on property and land taxes.

An Examination into the Effects of Land Value Taxation in the United Kingdom: An Update of the Whitstable Case Studies
Frances Anne Plimmer and Greg S. McGill
College of Estate Management
Reading, England

To advance the cause of land value taxation in the UK there is a need for up-to-date information on land values and how a system of land value taxation would work. To date, the only UK studies that have been undertaken were in 1963 and 1973 for the town of Whitstable, England. The aim of this project is to again focus on Whitstable and to establish site and property values for all of the taxable units (hereditaments) in the town taking into account the methodology used in 1973 and more recent advances in valuation, appraisal methods and geographic information systems.