Fiscal, Distributional and Efficiency Impacts of Land and Property Taxes
Motu Economic and Public Policy Research Working Paper No. 09-14
72 Pages Posted: 18 May 2010
Date Written: September 1, 2009
Abstract
Land taxes are known to be amongst the most efficient forms of taxation since land is an immobile factor; property (capital value) taxes are less efficient owing to the tax on improvements. However there is little international (or New Zealand) evidence regarding the distributional impacts of land and property taxes. Nor is there much New Zealand evidence on their potential fiscal implications or about the taxes’ impacts on asset values and debt positions. We explore impacts that may arise from a range of land and property taxes that differ across certain features (e.g. comprehensiveness and degree of grand-fathering). Both partial and general equilibrium models are used. The results provide a basis for considering alternative taxation options involving land or property taxes.
Keywords: land tax, property tax
JEL Classification: H21, H22, H24
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation