The United Nations Habitat Global Land Tool
Network Land Value Tax Project
Alanna Hartzok
[Reprinted from
GroundSwell, November-December 2006]
A GroundSwell interview with Alanna Hartzok,
Scotland, PA GroundSwell editor: You have been working with
United Nations Non Governmental Organizations. What is your
relationship to the UN NGOs and how long have you been involved with
them?
Alanna Hartzok: In 1980 I was invited by Dr. Lucile Green,
founder of the World Peoples Assembly movement, to participate in
three weeks of WPA meetings and conferences in Japan. People from
more than forty countries were there, including Gennady Gerasimov
who later became Chief Foreign Correspondent for the Soviet Union
during the Gorbachev years. Dr. Harry Lerner was another important
person in this movement that I met for the first time in Japan.
Lucile and Harry both became mentors of mine, Harry later inviting
me to give lectures on the land problem and land value tax at NGO
symposiums he organized at the United Nations.
Having been introduced to the world of UN NGOs, I suggested to the
International Union for Land Value Taxation that they apply for
official UN NGO status through the Department of Public Information.
Pat Aller, who had worked at the UN for a period of time, graciously
did the heavy lifting of filling out the application forms. The
application process was challenging because the IU had its original
founding papers destroyed due to the bombing of London during WWII.
Pat and the IU staff, primarily Barbara Sobrielo at the time,
succeeded after much perseverance and the IU became a UN NGO in
1993. Pat and I served as the two representatives. During the past
few years the IU has been accepted as a consultative organization
with the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and now has fifteen
UN NGO representatives from several countries.
Editor: What is UN Habitat and what is your relationship
with it?
Hartzok: The official mission of UN Habitat, the short
name for the United Nations Human Settlements Programme, a major UN
agency, is to promote socially and environmentally sustainable human
settlements development and the achievement of adequate shelter for
all. Habitat has been quite inclusive of the participation of NGOs
and civil society in general, and city mayors and other public
officials in particular. Our active involvement with UN Habitat
dates specifically to 1996 when I participated in the NGO Forum at
the Habitat II conference in Istanbul. Since the so-called Earth
Summit of 1992, NGOs have organized their own sessions as parallel
civil society sessions during official UN conferences. More than
15,000 people participated in the NGO Forum in Istanbul where I
organized and conducted six sessions on land value tax. I also
followed the official proceedings of the UN nation state
ambassadors, particularly the Land Access section which recommended
land based taxes and land value capture. We wanted to make certain
that those sections remained in the official documents. You will
recall that Mary Rose Kaczorowski participated in Habitat II as
well, representing Common Ground as a civil society organization.
The Land Access section of the 65 page official document did
indeed maintain its important statements about land and poverty
issues and the recommendations for land based taxes and land value
capture. The first Habitat conference, held in Vancouver in 1976,
had contained an even stronger and longer section advocating land
value tax. Pat and I made good use of these recommendations for land
value tax in papers we wrote and distributed at various UN events.
These documents can be found in the Articles section of
www.earthrights.net.ur
UN Habitat has grown in stature within the UN system since the
Istanbul conference. Anna Kajumulo Tibaijuka joined UN-HABITAT as
Executive Director in September 2000. Today she is the highest
ranking African woman in the United Nations system. A Tanzanian
national, she holds a Doctorate of Science in Agricultural Economics
from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences in Uppsala. She
is a strong and dynamic leader who actively promotes the
participation and leadership of women on all levels, both within the
UN and in civil society.
UN Habitat held its first World Urban Forum in 2002 in Nairobi. I
believe there were about 500 participants. By that time our
wonderful colleague Tatiana Roshkoshnaya had joined the Habitat
staff.
Editor: How did the Land Value Taxation and Capture Policy
come to be developed for the UN Habitat Global Land Tool Network?
Hartzok: Well, after the five major global conferences of
the 1990s and all their excellent action agendas, meticulously
composed via consensus of all UN member states, it was recognized
that the funds to implement these great ideas were not forthcoming.
Hence the track called Financing for Development was launched by the
UN. Pat and I followed this closely for a while, handing out our
papers to many official delegates during the three preparatory
conferences. I vividly remember one UN NGO session on FfD held at
the Church Center across from the UN where I had hoped to have five
or ten minutes to talk about land value tax. Well, I never got even
that hearing and remember being cut off while I was speaking. Jeff
Smith was willing and able to participate in the Financing for
Development (FfD) global conference in Monterey, Mexico where he
conducted land value tax workshops during the NGO forum and did some
networking. While we tried with FfD, and were initially optimistic
that there would be interest in LVT in this track, nothing came out
of it so we pulled back. Year 2000 saw the major gathering of nearly
all heads of state at the UN for the Millennium Assembly which
produced a several point agenda for poverty eradication called the
Millennium Development Goals. These MDGs continue to be major focal
points for all UN agencies which have taken upon themselves specific
ones of these goals, all of which are to include a gender
perspective, meaning they are to empower and include women equally
to men and be sensitive to how any particular policy approach
impacts women.
UN Habitat has a focus on Target 11 of MDG Number 7 -- to improve
the lives of 100 million slum dwellers around the world by the year
2020. In looking closely at the condition of those who are homeless
or living in substandard housing in unserviced informal settlements
-- the life of slum dwellers -- it became clear that there was a
problem with land tenure. So a focal point on land tenure issues
grew in UN Habitat. Tatiana brought the importance of land value tax
policy to the attention of those working on land tenure issues and
noted that it had been recommended in the official action agendas of
both the Vancouver and the Istanbul Habitat global conferences. She
also encouraged and recommended my participation on a panel at the
second World Urban Forum held in Barcelona in 2004. (The total
number participating in WUF II was around 5000.) After this session
I was informed that a Global Land Tool Network (GLTN) was going to
be established and that they wanted land value taxation to be
included as a policy approach.
Some months after returning from Barcelona I was directed to meet
with the consultants who were preparing a grant application to
establish the GLTN. I met for two hours with a group of five of
these consultants in Washington, DC in March of 2005 and was told
that land value tax would be included in the GLTN grant. Habitat was
successful in its request for the ten million dollar grant for the
ten year GLTN project funded by Sida Swedish International
Development Agency. GLTN was officially launched and celebrated at
the UN Habitat World Urban Forum III held in Vancouver in July,
2006. At the launching Norway announced that it was also giving a
substantial amount of funding for the GLTN; I believe that is also
for as much as ten million dollars.
Previous to the WUF III in Vancouver (2006) there was a web based
GLTN interactive discussion or jam held June 516
which included LVT as one of the six categories. Ted Gwartney, a
land value tax policy and property assessor expert, stepped up to
the plate to moderate the LVT track as they were unable to contact
me due to my being on the three week Earth Rights Democracy lecture
tour in Australia. He and I have written a summary of the land value
tax section of that GLTN jam. The entire discussion is archived on
the GLTN site. Ted and I were both included in the GLTN roundtable
session in Vancouver.
Others who work with the land value tax policy who participated in
WUF III were Bill Batt, Heather Wetzel, Dave Wetzel, and Anne Goeke.
They all found their engagement with the World Urban Forum to have
been very worthwhile.
The Vancouver conference had 10,000 participants, many of them
mayors and other public officials. The Canadian government and the
province of British Columbia co-hosted and contributed major funds
and a thousand volunteers. (The next WUF will be in Nanking, China
in 2008). Towards the end of the WUF I was asked by the GLTN
leadership to develop a multi-faceted LVT information program which
would then serve as a basis for future LVT/C implementation
projects. The C stands for capture, as UN documents use
the phrase land value capture. This is what we now call
the UN Habitat GLTN LVT/C Project.
Editor: Please say more about the UN Habitat Global Land
Tool Network? What is it, what are its goals?
Hartzok: You can get information about GLTN on the web at
www.gltn.net. To answer your
question here are statements from the official documents:
- The Global Land Tool Network (GLTN) originates from requests
made by Member States and local communities world-wide to
UN-HABITAT, who together with Sida and the World Bank initiated
the network idea. The network is a long term initiative to support
and upscale ongoing initiatives on systematic, innovative,
pro-poor, affordable and gender sensitive land tools. Discussions
with partner organizations and Member States led to the production
of a comprehensive initial report that was produced by a team of
consultants.
There are few more contentious and complex problems in the
world than those dealing with land and secure tenure
. The
GLTN initiative is driven by the following perceptions: there
are insufficient pro poor tools to implement the land policies
found in the Habitat Agenda, which is limiting the ability of
governments to implement the Agenda; and land policies tend to
focus on description and analysis rather than implementation.
The GLTN aims to establish a continuum of land rights, rather
than just focus on individual land titling; improve and develop
pro poor land management as well as land tenure tools; unblock
existing initiatives; assist in strengthening existing land
networks; improve global coordination on land; assist in the
development of gendered tools which are affordable and useful to
the grassroots; and improve the general dissemination of
knowledge about how to implement security of tenure.
The main objective of the network is to facilitate the attainment
of the Millennium Declaration and the Millennium Development Goals
through improved land management and tenure tools for poverty
alleviation and the improvement of the livelihoods of the poor. The
core values of the GLTN are pro poor, governance, equity,
subsidiarity, affordability, and systematic large scale approach as
well as gender sensitiveness
. (The GLTN) is pivotal for the
success of Target 11 of Millennium Development Goal No. 7 on
improving the lives of 100 million slum dwellers around the world by
the year 2020.
I might also mention that UN Habitat has eighteen General Partners
some of which are the Centre on Housing Rights & Evictions, Food
and Agricultural Organization of the UN, Huairou Commission, Human
Rights Watch, International Federation of Surveyors, International
Institute for Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation,
International Land Coalition, Lincoln Institute of Land Policy,
Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the World Bank,
and the United Nations Development Fund for Women. Partners include
governments, local authorities, civil society and donors. Our land
value tax policy work with the GLTN will certainly be of interest to
many of these. Via the UN Habitat GLTN we are now thoroughly and
officially engaged with land value tax policy development within the
UN system. In December 2004 the General Assembly passed a resolution
which Encourages Governments to support the UN-HABITATs
Global Campaign for Secure Tenure and Global Campaign for Urban
Governance as important tools for, inter alia, promoting
administration of land and property rights, in accordance with
national circumstances, and enhancing access to affordable credit by
the urban poor. (Resolution A/59/484, Implementation of
the outcome of the United Nations Conference on Human Settlements
(Habitat II) and of the twenty-fifth special session of the General
Assembly.).
Editor: What does the UN Habitat Global Land Tool Network
say about Land Value Taxation and Capture?
Hartzok: Well, thus far in this interview I have described
our International Union for Land Value Taxation NGO engagement with
the UN and its confluence with the official UN Habitat
recommendations for land value tax/capture. What the GLTN says about
land value tax/capture is now a rich texture of statements resulting
from previous proceedings and discussions and now found in the terms
of reference of the official UN Habitat GLTN Land Value Tax/Capture
Project. The project goal is the development of the GLTN tool of
land value taxation. With the projects completion the what,
why, where, and how of LVT will be posted on the GLTN website and
summarized in a printed brochure. Here are statements from the
Project contract:
- Looking first at the instrumental justifications, paying this
fee encourages a landowner to develop vacant and under-utilized
land to the full extent that its value warrants, or to make way
for others who will. Sites are consequently used more efficiently,
dilapidated inner-city areas are returned to good use, which
reduces urban sprawl. LVT deters speculative land holding and
enables a society to provide sustainable and wider access to the
use of land. This allows women and men, poor and affluent,
uneducated or well educated, all to gain access to land in more
affordable manner. It enables secure land tenure by owners willing
to pay for the land advantages they find important. This approach
to revenue production stimulates new business and new employment,
reducing the need for government assistance.
Economically LVT makes sense because, it does not distort
market mechanisms or otherwise burden the economy the way most
other taxes do. It is a cheap and efficient levy to administer
because much less effort is required to track land ownership and
value than to track income or sales transactions. Tax evasion on
land is much more difficult than on financial wealth because
land cannot be hidden, removed to a tax haven, or concealed in
an electronic data system. Even in the poorest of communities
the tools are readily available to implement this policy.
There are also compelling moral reasons for LVT. Land (unlike
goods and services) has no cost of production. If an ample
supply of land of equal desirability were available everywhere,
there would be nothing to pay for its use. In reality land
acquires a scarcity value owing to the competing needs of
community members for living, working and leisure space. Thus
land value owes nothing to individual effort and everything to
the community at large. It belongs justly and uniquely to the
community. Conversely, the reward for individual effort
rightfully belongs to the one who earns it. Because of
differences in location, fertility or natural resources, some
places are more advantageous than others. Only demand for access
to these advantages gives land its value.
Land values are created mainly by factors that are not the
result of the landowner's own effort; for example, the creation
of new infrastructure, new public transportation, or re-zoning.
All can radically change the value of a piece of land. LVT
provides a method of recouping windfall changes to land value
that occur as a result of investment by the community, placing
less of the burden on taxpayers who don't directly benefit. This
allows reductions in existing taxes on labor (wages) and
enterprise (sales). The LVT is progressive because the land tax
cannot be passed on to a tenant; competitive markets, and not
landlord overheads set rental prices.
The natural world is rightfully the common property of all
persons, and therefore the LVT is not really a tax, but simply
the collection of rent (a user fee) on behalf of the community.
For eight thousand years worldwide, LVT has been the primary
basis for producing public revenue and is easy for people to
understand. LVT is the appropriate instrument for the urgent
fight against global inequity and poverty.
Sound LVT/C policies create incentives for substantial
improvement in the housing stock, provides the basis for
self-financing cities, enables the benefits of the market system, and
secures a fair distribution of wealth.
Editor: Does the UN Habitat GLTN LVT/C have Specific
Project Goals?
Hartzok: Yes, the specific project activities will be:
- 1. To document existing best practices and lessons learned on
LVT/C.
2. To disseminate existing best practices and lessons learned on
LVT/C.
3. To develop a curriculum for a short Internet based course on
LVT/C.
The following components will be applicable:
1. a) Develop explanatory documents on LVC/T (global coverage)
b) Develop SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats)
analysis on LVC/T (financial/social/ environmental with global
coverage)
2. a) Examples of existing LVC/T initiatives (global coverage,
country specific examples)
b) Specific SWOT on existing examples of LVC/T (global as well as
country specific)
c) Statements by key individuals/institutions on LVC/T (global
coverage)
3. a) Develop a curriculum for and the design of a short online
course on LVC/T (approximately 8h Internet time and 16h offline
time)
b) Develop an online LVC/T calculator/simulator where a
council/country can enter their own data and then elaborate
different LVC/T solutions seeing the results in the LVC/T
calculator/simulator. Calculator ought to be available on
www.gltn.net.
4. Develop brief brochure on LVC/T.
The LVT/C capacity building program seeks to enable
implementation of the UN-HABITAT 1996 Action Agenda recommendations
for land value capture and land based tax policy. The training
material will be available via Internet to public officials, NGO and
grassroots leaders, and others who are committed to ensuring access to
land for affordable shelter for all.
The training will focus in particular on the capture of land value
for public revenue and the land tools that are crucial to the
successful implementation of this policy, such as land assessments,
cadastral systems, and land registration. High-quality and
affordable information - reliable, timely, and user-friendly -
will be presented to help prepare governments for implementing these
fiscal approaches, which, among other benefits, can create
incentives for improvement in the housing stock.
Editor: Who will be directing the UN Habitat GLTN LVT/C
project?
Hartzok: I am the project director and am the one
responsible for its successful execution and completion. It is a big
job and I certainly cannot do it alone. At the CGO conference in
Chicago I convened an ad hoc group which discussed the project, at
that point at an initial phase of development of the project
description, and out of that meeting grew the GLTN LVT/C Project
Advisory Group, which now has more than thirty participants. We are
now in the process of forming working groups for the several
specific project tasks. My leadership style will be that of a focalizer
keeping the activities of the various working groups on task,
facilitating communications, and keeping the overall project in
focus.
Editor: How will the UN Habitat GLTN LVT/C project be
funded?
Hartzok: The GLTN has allocated $20,000 to be administered
through Earth Rights Institute, a 501c3 non-profit organization
which is a member organization of the IU and which I co-direct with
Anne Goeke. A few people have told me that this is a rather small
amount of funds for such a big job. This is true, which is why it is
essential that other individuals and organizations with expertise in
land value tax policy contribute to the Projects success to
the best of their ability and capacity. Our advisors and working
groups will be engaged on a pro bono basis until and unless
additional funds from elsewhere are forthcoming. All those who
actively contribute to the Project will certainly be on my short
list for funding and consulting projects in the future. GLTN
officials have told me that they have already earmarked funds for
the LVT implementation phase which will begin sometime after this
Project is completed in August of 2007. As I understand it, and this
is not written anywhere which is publicly accessible, this means
that cities and even countries who request LVT implementation may
possibly secure seed funds for this purpose.
Editor: When and where do you expect the LVT/C project to
start and how long do you foresee it taking to implement?
Hartzok: The Project is set to formally begin January 2007
and is to be completed by August 31, 2007 eight months. The where
is from the Earth Rights Institute office in southcentral
Pennsylvania, USA and the several cities, towns and countries where
our Advisory Group members reside. The internet will be our primary
means of communication and the work-in-process will be posted at
various stages on the ERI website at www.earthrights.net. When the
Project is completed the LVT policy program will be posted and
hosted on the GLTN website at www.gltn.net .
Editor: Can others be involved and, if so, how?
Hartzok: Yes, I have sent out via internet postings to
those engaged in land value tax policy worldwide invitations to
contribute to this Project. And as I have mentioned heretofore,
there are now more than thirty experts who have thus far expressed
their willingness to participate on what we now call the UN Habitat
GLTN LVT Advisory Group.