Comment by notahacker
1 day ago
> The alternative to "local land value improvements feed the local tax base" is that schoolteachers who make the local schools good make the local landlords more money
Or indeed that a headteacher works long and hard to improve their school and all they get for it is a reduction in their real income because the plot of land their house sits on costs 20% more.
Or the schoolteachers get driven away by a horde of NIMBYs who really don't want to be forced to move because the schools are good...
> all they get for it is a reduction in their real income because the plot of land their house sits on costs 20% more
And, y'know, the value of something they own goes up by 20%...
And that headteacher's salary can increase too because the tax base went up.
No such luck for the poor schoolteacher whose rent went up. All she will contribute to is her landlord's vacation fund.
>Or the schoolteachers get driven away by a horde of NIMBYs
Really??? You think NIMBYs will protest a good school?
If you want NIMBYs go visit San Francisco. Theyve detaxed land there to such an absurd extent that the locals with $1.5 million mortgages will flock to town council meetings to try to declare a launderette historic to prevent it from being turned into apartments (because if any more apartments are built they will go underwater on their absurdly sized mortgage).
> Really??? You think NIMBYs will protest a good school?
I mean NIMBYs protest educational facilities and transit links all the time, even when on paper at least they reap benefits in terms of house price appreciation.
Imagine arguing with a straight face they wouldn't protest such improvements more actively when someone else's kids getting a good education pushes them below the poverty line or forces them to leave the area. If you align any improvements to an area with increases in costs, you get incentives to ensure an area doesn't improve.