Faster Growth Begins With a Land Tax in U.S. Cities

Lots of progressives are starting to focus on the problem of expensive cities. Lack of affordable housing is crowding poor and working-class Americans out of the country’s most productive metropolitan areas, a phenomenon highlighted by urbanists such as Richard Florida and Enrico Moretti. But it isn’t just elites who are raising their voices: Some activists on the left are beginning to turn against the idea that policy limits on housing construction helps the poor. Politicians are joining the fight too. California Governor Jerry Brown just signed 15 bills aimed at encouraging density and affordable housing.

The California bills focus on easing and streamlining the cumbersome approval process for building new homes, and on providing government money for affordable housing. In cities with tight zoning regulations, pro-density efforts often focus on loosening those rules. But there’s one very powerful policy that cities and the activists who love them haven’t yet employed -- the land value tax.