Äquivalente Steuerfinanzierung kommunaler Leistungen

In this paper a local tax to finance local public goods is discussed. The intention is to tax citizens upon their willingness to pay for public goods. The idea to base the tax on a private good that indicates the value of public goods is considered. Land is a private good that satisfies the condition of being immobile in a community. First, the land market needs to be looked at to ensure that land prices are market prices. Once this is demonstrated it is examined how a tax based on land prices can be considered to be a tax that fulfils the benefit principle. Although there are various other influences on the price of land, it is shown that a tax on land values - or to be more precise: on land prices - is not only a neutral tax, but gives incentives for political decision makers to efficiently provide local public goods and assures that those who receive the benefits pay for it.