That seems a rather pyhrric right. You don't actually get any value from them destroying your house.
I think the offer is supposed to be on the improved value (IE including the value of the building) but the tax is on the unimproved value, so you do get the value of your house if they buy the land.
Perhaps more reasonable would be, if we imagine a new Georgist city on undeveloped land, to require that every building is detachable from the land; IE it is attached to its foundations, by twistlocks, like intermodal containers, with the utilities also being supplied via some standardised connector. Not only would you then just be able to move your house to somewhere else, but it would have several other advantages. It would be a universal argument against NIMBYism - if you don't like new infrastructure being built near you, you can just move your house elsewhere. It would make it less disruptive to build new infrastructure anyway, as houses could be moved out of the way instead of being demolished.
The point of the system where you have to accept an offer at your supposed valuation is that it forces accurate valuations.
If you now say that we need to provide two different valuations (land + structure) but we're only taxed on one, don't you think we'll find that everyone lives in very expensive houses on worthless plots of land?
No, because it's much easier to independently value a house
What are you suggesting as an alternative?
- Both taxation and offer on the improved value - this is consistent, but it's no longer Georgism so it doesn't solve the problem of how to estimate and tax the unimproved value
- Both taxation and offer on the unimproved value - this is now unfair to the owner as you're not paying for the value of their house, and also they have the incentive to include the value of the house in the land value
>to require that every building is detachable from the land; IE it is attached to its foundations, by twistlocks, like intermodal containers, with the utilities also being supplied via some standardised connector.
WHAT? This is ridiculous. What happens if someone buys the land out from under your skyscraper, and you can't afford to move it a couple blocks over? Do you live in a LEGO world?
I think the offer is supposed to be on the improved value (IE including the value of the building) but the tax is on the unimproved value, so you do get the value of your house if they buy the land.
Perhaps more reasonable would be, if we imagine a new Georgist city on undeveloped land, to require that every building is detachable from the land; IE it is attached to its foundations, by twistlocks, like intermodal containers, with the utilities also being supplied via some standardised connector. Not only would you then just be able to move your house to somewhere else, but it would have several other advantages. It would be a universal argument against NIMBYism - if you don't like new infrastructure being built near you, you can just move your house elsewhere. It would make it less disruptive to build new infrastructure anyway, as houses could be moved out of the way instead of being demolished.