I'm sure we can agree the vacant lot never improved itself.
It's not unearned -- it's earned by the surrounding community improving things -- which make that lot more attractive.
The incentives don't align. If that community was to massively regress e.g. unfavorable rezoning -- the value of that lot would plummet.
However in this case it's likely to be partially addressed by paying land value taxes which disincentivizes leaving it vacant -- what Henry George was getting at and wasn't there at the time.
I'm sure we can agree the vacant lot never improved itself. It's not unearned -- it's earned by the surrounding community improving things -- which make that lot more attractive.
The incentives don't align. If that community was to massively regress e.g. unfavorable rezoning -- the value of that lot would plummet.
However in this case it's likely to be partially addressed by paying land value taxes which disincentivizes leaving it vacant -- what Henry George was getting at and wasn't there at the time.