The Irish organization Smart Taxes has issued a proposal for site value taxation of residential land in that nation. For those of us elsewhere, a highlight is the brief description (on pages 4-5) of some existing successful land value taxes in North America, Europe, Asia, and Australasia. There is also (unsourced) data asserting that
In the US, recurring taxes on immovable property form 11% of all tax revenues, while in Canada and the UK they contribute 9%. In Australia and New Zealand, they contribute between 5% and 6% of all tax revenues. In Western Europe, the contribution is typically lower (1.5% in 2008)
Also significant is the discussion of how to justly implement a new site value tax in an area with limited data. Apparently Ireland’s existing real estate tax affects only commercial property, so even such basic information as the name and address of the property owner can be a challenge to obtain.
The report considers a tax in the range of 1% to 2% of site value, which is thus comparable to real estate taxes in many US jurisdictions (which, however, fail to exclude the value of improvements).
Overall, an easy read, just 22 pages, entirely in English, pdf directly downloadable here.