Abstract: This dissertation explores the interaction of tax and land use policies in the U.S. The first essay, Exclusionary Fiscal Zoning and Residential Housing Density, explores the hypotheses that local generation of tax revenue encourages local governments to enact zoning policies that reduce the efficiency of land markets. The theoretical model predicts that heavy reliance on local income tax revenue by local governments will encourage strict large-lot fiscal zoning restrictions. Empirical results support the theoretical hypothesis for tax districts in Delaware County, Ohio. The second essay, The Effect of Use-Value Assessment on Land Use Change in Rural and Suburban Areas, explores the effects of preferential property tax treatment for agricultural uses. A survival model is employed to explain the timing of farmland conversion to urban uses. Preferential tax assessment is found to be effective at slowing farmland conversion in a rural Ohio township, but ineffective in a suburban township closer to Columbus, Ohio. The third essay, The Capitalization of Property Taxes into the Prices of High and Low-Value Homes, employs a hedonic model to test the impact of local property taxes and large-lot zoning on housing values. The empirical results show mixed evidence to support the hypothesis that property taxes have a more negative impact on high-value homes as compared to low-value homes. The results also show a price premium on homes with small lots. This premium may be explained by a zoning induced shortage of small-lot homes.

These essays examine the merits and shortcomings of land-value taxation, which has a benign economic influence, and how it compares and contrasts with the conventional property tax.

This text brings together essays by scholars connecting the property tax with land use. They explore the idea that the property tax is used as a partial substitute for land use regulation and other policies designed to affect how land is utilized. Like many economists, the contributors see some type of property taxation as the more efficient means of helping to shape land use. Some of the essays analyze a conventional property tax, while others consider radically different systems of property taxation. context of a dynamic model of real estate markets. The remaining papers examine how various tax mechanisms and non-tax alternatives to regulating and determining land use, such as zoning and private neighbourhood associations, complement or substitute for one another. Urban planners and economists interested in local public finance should find this a useful study.

'. . . fine compilation of essays dealing with international land and property taxation issues. . . . the book is well researched and readable in presenting the tax systems. . . The book would be more than appropriate as additional reading for a master's level class in taxation. It could supplement an international tax class, or be used in a state and local tax class to present contrasts and complexities of the issue in other countries.' – Malichi van Tassell Tor, The Journal of the American Taxation Association '. . . this is quite an achievement. Thanks to the nature of the case studies and the contributing authors the volume is inherently international in its scope and should appeal to practitioners, teachers, and students interested in land and property taxation, international economic development, and land and real-estate studies.' – Scott Orford, Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design 'I have found the book International Handbook of Land and Property Taxation a very meaningful and enlightening book to read. The editors Bird and Slack have developed a theoretically sound framework, backed by economic conceptions in order to attempt a comprehensive treatment on tax administration on land and property. Speci?cally and yet more broadly, they have to their credit managed to throw light of sufficient depth on key issues that include the tax base and rate, the tax burden and the tax policy decision makers. The international dimension is just as imperative to consider and the editors have effectively succeeded to render an in-depth treatment in this regard. This imperative is also a unique and important contribution to empirical real estate studies within the tax discipline, and the editors should be highly commended in this effort. I am very encouraged with the academic rigor of this book publication. . .' – David Ho, Journal of Property Investment and Finance Taxes on land and property exist all over the world in many forms and are an important source of finance for local governments. The extent to which local governments have control over property taxes is often an important determinant of their ability to make autonomous expenditure decisions. This comprehensive Handbook explores case studies of land and property taxation in 25 countries (five in each of five regions – OECD, central and eastern Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America), and focuses on the potential contributions of the property tax to the revenues of urban and rural governments and to more efficient land use. Introductory chapters highlight the diversity in the application of land and property taxes among the countries. Major policy alternatives with respect to taxing land and property are discussed, including the choice of tax base, exemptions, methods of determining the tax base, tax rates, differential treatment of different classes of property (such as farms, residences, commercial properties), and the process of tax administration. Other taxes levied on land, such as land transfer taxes, development charges and unearned increment taxes, are also reviewed, as is recent experience with property tax reform in a number of countries. This major reference work will provide a valuable resource and necessary addition to the libraries of government officials, municipal associations, property assessors, international agencies, teachers and students of public finance.