In this specific example, what's preventing the land from being used for something more valuable than a car wash currently? I get that a land value tax would disincentivize hoarding land, but urban-sprawl-car wash hardly seems like a case of land hoarding. I think the parent was suggesting that these car washes would no longer exist because taxes would be too high under a land value tax regime - but that raises the question of what the more valuable usage is? Does there exist one, why isn't it currently being used that way, and is the reason something that lvt would rectify? If car washes are the most valuable usage, then they will either continue to exist or if the tax burden is too high in the new regime, they will stop existing and nothing will replace them.
I'm sure there are plenty of examples where lvt would encourage more efficient land usage, i'm just confused why this would be one of them.
Car washes are low maintenance, so it's an easy way to make a little cashflow whipe primarily owning the land for landbanking purposes. With the land freed up for something more productive, other businesses will be set up which are higher effort but higher returns.
Basically car washes are the slightly-harder version of land banking, but there is still enough value in the land that if the land was put up for sale, some other business would purchase it and utilise the land better.
If the car wash owner wanted to maximize returns they could set up a more profitable business today, sure. It's just more effort than they can be bothered with.
In this specific example, what's preventing the land from being used for something more valuable than a car wash currently? I get that a land value tax would disincentivize hoarding land, but urban-sprawl-car wash hardly seems like a case of land hoarding. I think the parent was suggesting that these car washes would no longer exist because taxes would be too high under a land value tax regime - but that raises the question of what the more valuable usage is? Does there exist one, why isn't it currently being used that way, and is the reason something that lvt would rectify? If car washes are the most valuable usage, then they will either continue to exist or if the tax burden is too high in the new regime, they will stop existing and nothing will replace them.
I'm sure there are plenty of examples where lvt would encourage more efficient land usage, i'm just confused why this would be one of them.