Capturing Value for Urban Management: A New Agenda for Betterment

Abstract

In the face of a continuing 'fiscal crisis of the state' this article addresses how land taxation might be reformed to better fund the demands on urban management. Our premise is that land tax initiatives offer governments a means for increasing the funds available for urban management without significantly compromising the assumed political boundaries of public fiscal restraint. The specific focus in the article is on the bridge provided by land taxation in the form of 'betterment' or the interchangeable notion of 'value capture'. The article recommends a new form of betterment tax that would operate alongside existing or future charges for infrastructure levied by local government. Importantly, the tax would be applied to value increments across the city, and not just in fringe areas which have been the traditional targets of betterment levies.