Currently, property tax reform is again on the political agenda in Germany. A working group of the ministries of finance of the German states has shortlisted three proposals, whose tax bases comprise land as well as the existing building. Apparently, the previous discussion on property tax...

From a Ricardian point of view, taxes should be most efficiently financed through land rents. In spatial terms, the land rents are highest in the European core countries and lowest at the margins of the peripheral states, which are currently in turmoil due to the economic crisis. The austerity...