Many transportation and other infrastructure improvements are financed by taxes on property. That tax is assessed at one rate on the combined value of the land itself and the buildings.

A working paper by Jason Junge and David Levinson explores the question of what would happen if the tax rates were split and land were taxed at a higher rate while the tax on improvements was lowered.

"A parcel of land has a value based on surrounding improvements the community has made, and raising the tax on land allows the community to keep a greater portion of the value generated by public projects. Buildings have value based on the effort and expense the owners have incurred to construct them, and a corresponding decrease in the tax on improvements allows property owners to keep more of the value they have created for themselves," the authors argue.

Several benefits for the local government would accrue from the split taxes.

"If the levy…

University of Minnesota "Likewise, physical inactivity is linked to an array of negative health effects including heart disease and diabetes. Neighborhood design can influence air pollution and walkability; more walkable neighborhoods may encourage higher daily activity levels."
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  "Affordability is not just the cost of a house," said Shelley Poticha, Reconnecting America's former CEO who is now preaching the gospel of sustainable communities from inside the Obama administration.

Poticha, the senior advisor for sustainable housing and communities at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, was in San Francisco last week for the Urban Land Institute's gathering and the unveiling of a new report on housing and transportation costs, the Bay Area Burden.

The report is discussed in this blog post. But unmentioned was Poticha's suggestion that perhaps it's time to put stickers on houses showing a cost of homeownership that incorporates transportation expenses. Such a sticker would allow buyers to comparison shop and reward developers who build near transit.

The Congress for New Urbanism, using data from…

IF Press "The biggest misconception about transit is it's the reason development happens,"
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Contra Costa Times "The market cannot by itself supply - under our current zoning regulations, under our current infrastructure, without help from the government - it cannot supply adequate affordable housing close to people's jobs,"
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  Blogger Urbanophile was in Boston for Rail~Volution. While there he caught up with Reconnecting America CEO John Robert Smith and posted this 2 minute video.

  Reconnecting America attended the Congress for New Urbanism Transportation Summit in Portland. Below are all of the Tweets from #cnutrans. User Date Time Tweet josephreaddy 11/11/09 7:57 AM RT @NewUrbanism: Don't miss this great #cnutrans report from @Streetsblog-SF Former Texas Rep Krusee says: No Road Pays for Itself. None ... ResonantDev 11/11/09 7:13 AM #cnutrans report @Streetsblog-SF "No Road Pays for Itself." None. http://bit.ly/3g0mUb @HillsboroughMPO @ConnectUSHSR NewUrbanism 11/11/09 6:51 AM Don't miss this great #cnutrans report from @Streetsblog-SF Former Texas Rep Krusee says: No Road Pays for Itself. None.http://bit.ly/3g0mUb commers 11/9/09 10:40 AM Graphic from Donjek, Musty and Lander describes economic/fiscal impact of walkable transit-oriented development: http://ur.ly/38OC #CNUTrans gosner 11/7/09 10:44 AM CNU Transpo Summit report-areas built b4 1950 are safer tahn…