Reply #22: Why won't they?

[dcfirefighter]

What makes you think that you can require employers to pay a certain wage in your municipality rather than relocate somewhere else?

If landowners want to retain the title and exclusive rights to their property, they will pay the tax.

Unions demanding higher wages is roughly equivalent to legislating higher wages - employers simply move somewhere else, or don't expand, or find a machine to do the job.

A 10% raise in employment taxes decreased employment by 4% in Columbia after their SS reform of 1993. Perhaps a 15% reduction could be expected to increase employment by 6% - roughly what the official unemployment numbers are.

Regardless, limiting our proposal to what a municipality could do, shifting existing property taxes from buildings to land values would certainly result in an increase of construction jobs as well as an increase in buildings. An increase in buildings would result in an increase in jobs securing, maintaining, and cleaning buildings. Furthermore, potential employers would be more likely to locate there - real estate costs would be less. I think this final effect would be by far the greatest.

Shifting municipal taxes from sales to land value would increase retail sales jobs.

Shifting municipal taxes from hospitality taxes (hotel room taxes, expensive liquor licenses, etc.) more people will be employed in the hospitality industry.

Increase the demand for employees, and you'll increase wages.