Summarizing studies of the impacts of land value tax (LVT) in the economic literature. Where possible, citations contain empirical investigations.

• LVT discourages land speculation and lowers vacancy rates
• LVT encourages infill and discourages urban sprawl:
• LVT increases the rate of housing construction
• LVT increases the rate of business formation
• LVT can increase investment in the real economy
• LVT increases employment
• LVT boosts growth
• LVT is good for the environment
• LVT improves tax compliance and lowers rates of tax foreclosure
• LVT is efficient, it does not distort economic decisions or create deadweight loss:
• LVT is not passed on into higher rents:
• LVT reduces land values, although revenue-neutral LVT shifts raises them
• LVT incentivizes optimal municipal governance, makes good public investments self-funding
• LVT will reduce inequality, challenge land’s underlying role in inequality
• Additional claims

Pollakowski (1982) “examined property transactions in Pittsburgh from 1977 to 1981. They observed that from 1925 to 1978, Pittsburgh‟s land-to-improvement tax ratio was 2:1. In 1979 it was increased to 4:1 and then increased to 5:1 in 1980. Pollakowski’s dependent variable in his study was the probability of a parcel being transacted. He found a positive and discernable effect of the land tax rate. Of the 6812 properties transacted in 1979, Pollakowski estimated that 60 were attributable to the land tax increase. Thus, though the effect of the change in land tax rate was discernible and significant, its overall magnitude was quite minimal.”