I actually went through the Allegheny county “newcomer tax” just some months ago.
It was a bit of a strange process to appeal (I lost; my house is very weird for the area).
While I do see the benefit for not raising taxes so consistently for long-term owners (and could definitely see gentrification-esque effects) it does seem like a pretty obvious - if bitter - pill to swallow if the area is going to have any chance of continued growth.
That seems like a problem for the inhabitants to work out through a democratic process.
Tech bros and crypto bros moving into a city and then griping “housing is too expensive here” doesn’t count, particularly when they’re the cause of the problem in the first place.
The industries sustaining the city are healthcare, finance and higher edu. There’s no invasion of m fedora-toting tech bros building B2B SaaS AI Agents.
This is a group of current inhabitants who do want the city to improve who are submitting -honestly minor - proposals to keep Pittsburgh from going the way of many of the other Rust-Belt cities.
I’ve become intimately familiar with Youngstown, OH - about 70 miles away from the Pittsburgh - and it’s a great case study of how far a once-powerhouse city can fall if it doesn’t a actively reinvent itself.
That's causally backwards. What we want is for families to have jobs and an American quality of life. Not to just create "jobs and families" as if they are the product at the end of the manufacturing line. That goal only makes sense for politicians (and short-term thinking politicians, at that).
Sorry, I don't follow what your second sentence is referring to. But I should be more clear: I'm not commenting on a specific situation, only on the "growth mindset". I.e. it should be an "improvement mindset", which specific types of growth either help or harm in each situation.
Ultimately to the end of allowing Pittsburgh and the surrounding area to be a place with agglomeration effects, growth, and opportunities enough to allow smart and ambitious young people to remain in the area as opposed to brain draining into the Acela corridor.
It’s sad when a city that could go either way chooses to rust and its most talented young people no longer have the option of staying in their home if they want dynamic careers.
And if you read the linked paper, particularly the "Effects of Reassessments on Split-Rate Taxing Bodies" (split rate being the riff you're referring to), making land value assessments more accurate of course makes land value taxation more appealing.
Pittsburgh is a mess. I grew up there and came back recently to visit after 20 years. I walked a street for a few miles, and it was homeless after homeless. Heartbreaking change to see.
Reminds me of what happened to San Francisco after the tech boom. What a loss. These people who come to these cities for the economic zone are sick - they will literally let people die on the street. Tax them into poverty.
De-industrialization for decades on decades - of which Pittsburgh did an okay job of pivoting (many many other towns nearby faired far far worse) - pile on brain drain to the Coasts and a opioid epidemic to boot, I don’t see how this is an indictment of Yinzers.
This is nonsense. No one that wants a shelter in Pittsburgh and can play well with others doesn’t get one. There are lots of housing projects and benefits to those who “need” them despite the fact that those who “need” them could work and earn on their own. The vast majority of homeless have other problems.
Silly leftist talking points - If you taxed the landowners into poverty they would simply move to the outside boroughs and … oh wait they already did that long before the taxation became as asinine as you are suggesting.
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[ 11.3 ms ] story [ 38.8 ms ] threadI actually went through the Allegheny county “newcomer tax” just some months ago.
It was a bit of a strange process to appeal (I lost; my house is very weird for the area).
While I do see the benefit for not raising taxes so consistently for long-term owners (and could definitely see gentrification-esque effects) it does seem like a pretty obvious - if bitter - pill to swallow if the area is going to have any chance of continued growth.
Tech bros and crypto bros moving into a city and then griping “housing is too expensive here” doesn’t count, particularly when they’re the cause of the problem in the first place.
The industries sustaining the city are healthcare, finance and higher edu. There’s no invasion of m fedora-toting tech bros building B2B SaaS AI Agents.
This is a group of current inhabitants who do want the city to improve who are submitting -honestly minor - proposals to keep Pittsburgh from going the way of many of the other Rust-Belt cities.
I’ve become intimately familiar with Youngstown, OH - about 70 miles away from the Pittsburgh - and it’s a great case study of how far a once-powerhouse city can fall if it doesn’t a actively reinvent itself.
This isn’t a hypothetical scenario though - the lack of economic opportunity across the border is a key reason of why I’m married.
It’s sad when a city that could go either way chooses to rust and its most talented young people no longer have the option of staying in their home if they want dynamic careers.
Your company definitely bought / financed it, so it is clear evidence of your financial means at the purchase time.
Businesses that own land don't pay federal taxes, they can just declare 0 profit every year while paying for range rovers for the owners.
Eh? Working people always pay the property tax, landlords do not.
Evidence: the free cash flow varies wildly per geography even in the same tax region.
Landlords will accept negative cash flow in expectation of property value increase.
And if you read the linked paper, particularly the "Effects of Reassessments on Split-Rate Taxing Bodies" (split rate being the riff you're referring to), making land value assessments more accurate of course makes land value taxation more appealing.
Reminds me of what happened to San Francisco after the tech boom. What a loss. These people who come to these cities for the economic zone are sick - they will literally let people die on the street. Tax them into poverty.
De-industrialization for decades on decades - of which Pittsburgh did an okay job of pivoting (many many other towns nearby faired far far worse) - pile on brain drain to the Coasts and a opioid epidemic to boot, I don’t see how this is an indictment of Yinzers.
Silly leftist talking points - If you taxed the landowners into poverty they would simply move to the outside boroughs and … oh wait they already did that long before the taxation became as asinine as you are suggesting.