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Comment by stoneman24 | Hacker News Reader

I kind of agree, just tax the land as to the utility value of the land (not what is built on it). If you want to tax what’s on the land (or what it’s being used for) then that’s a different tax basis (perhaps more of a wealth tax or social benefit tax)

Both a farmer and I have 500 acres (his farm, my golf course). There is a basic land tax perhaps but I might get taxed for the golf course but he might get benefits for the socially beneficial food production.

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> just tax the land as to the utility value of the land

tax the car to the utility value of the car - force you to drive for Uber instead of the car sitting in the garage and you posting here :)

The analogy would be taxing the car based on its value, not based on the value of the people and goods it carries.

Which is what we do!

People and goods aren't part of the car. Refrigeration equipment for example is part of the taxable value of the refrigeration truck, ie. basic truck + refrigeration equipment would be taxed higher than just the same basic truck. Similarly scyscraper is a part of that piece of real estate consisting of land + scyscraper.

Good point, this leads to current issue in the UK (and other countries).

In a general sense, UK car owners would pay a relatively small amount tax in road tax and then tax on petrol/diesel purchased to drive the car (the amount would vary on use). Trucks etc would pay more as they would have more maintenance impact on the roads.

So the money raised would be collected by government and distributed locally to maintain the road network.

But now more vehicles are electric so the fuel tax is decreasing so how’s the government going to fund the roads?

Perhaps to a “pay per mile” tax. With different rates depending on where and when. Taxing the utility of a mile driven in your vehicle.

Doesn’t have to force you to drive for uber, as it’s defined on the utility to you of a mile driven in your car. No miles, very little tax ( at peak times in the city rush, the bus might be better)

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