[whakim]

That seems like a bit of a murky distinction, though, right? Taxing land disincentives economic activity a large component of which is in the land value (running a parking garage or hotel in downtown Manhattan, or a farm in a fertile region, etc.) but incentivizes other types of economic activity.

[abathur]

This is roughly the point, though.

It doesn't _absolutely_ disincentivize these things unless they are operating at a loss. It certainly disincentivizes "economic activity" like opening an at-grade parking lot in a bustling city-center in order to minimize the property tax you pay while the land appreciates in value more than it disincentivizes opening a parking garage there (assuming there's actually enough parking demand to pay to build and maintain).

(I don't entirely disagree with you--it seems like this would shunt some investment away from investments that need expensive land. It's less clear to me whether that is good, neutral, or bad.)

[sooheon]

Read this to understand the distinction: https://astralcodexten.substack.com/p/your-book-review-progr...

George goes to great lengths to distinguish these factors of production. They are fundamentally different.

[awakeasleep]

Do you think its murkier than things in life are, usually? Or are you comparing it to an abstraction in code.