Common Ground

Our communities are the backbone of who we are as individuals, and an efficient, democratic, empowered community creates prosperity for all of it's members. 

​

So how can our policies help our communities? 

​

A few ways. 

​

The Land Value Tax is where communities tax the land instead of the improvements on that land.

 

Besides the enormous private benefits and ease of taxation, municipal governments also stand to benefit much more from investments in public assets. Things like roads, walkways, parks, or gardens all improve the base value of the land and thus create a positive feedback loop, where citizens reap the benefits of increased investment in their neighborhoods The city governments get to see those improvements turn into more revenue for even more improvements. This is known as infrastructure recapture.

​

There's many ways to implement this system, check out our research on some of the ways in our paper. 

​

The governance of this system can vary based on what works best for your town (Whether that be an appointed manager, the town council itself, or the members of the community), but we believe the land on which the community stands should always be under that community's control. 

​

More local control of the land means lowered budgets for public investments, and higher accountability for the use of that land by community members.

​

Want to help? We are always looking for more members! Contact us for our next meeting, more information, or to learn other ways Common Ground is working to make Minnesota better.

​

​