Land values rise because of what we build around them: transit, schools, parks, infrastructure, zoning, local businesses, public services, and growing communities.
Land value return is the practical idea that more of this publicly created wealth should come back to citizens through lower taxes, dividends, and public investment. It can lower housing costs, reward building over idle speculation, shift taxes off work and construction, and fund the infrastructure our cities need.
A two-page primer on how a land value tax (LVT) can lower housing costs, encourage more housing, replace income and property taxes, reduce sprawl, and help us build a fairer tax system. For policymakers and advocates.
LVT directly addresses many of our most pressing economic and social challenges. Click any issue to explore how shifting taxes to land changes the picture.
Tax buildings less, land more — and Canadian workers, builders, and businesses get to keep more of what they create.
Explore → 02Land wealth concentrates upward. Returning the unearned portion to the public gives every household a stake.
Explore → 03Today's tax system rewards land speculation and underuse. LVT encourages density and infill where infrastructure already exists.
Explore → 04So long as land is an investment, housing prices climb out of reach. LVT cools the speculative premium baked into every home.
Explore → 05Pricing land properly rewards low-impact use and curbs the conversion of farmland and habitat into low-density expansion.
Explore → 06Land value return creates a fiscal foundation for sharing the wealth generated on lands held in common — and recognizing whose lands we share.
Explore →Different households see different effects. Pick the one closest to your situation and see how LVT changes your costs, your housing options, and your share of the common wealth.
Lower long-term rents and more housing built where renters actually live and work.
Read the case →Improvements you make to your home aren't penalized — equity built through work is protected.
Read the case →Direct rebates and a guaranteed income that strengthen budgets and replace harmful taxes.
Read the case →Deferrals, age-based exemptions, and rebates protect fixed incomes while honouring lifelong equity.
Read the case →Cut the cost of hiring, expanding, and renting space — by shifting taxes off work and onto land.
Read the case →Idle land costs more to hold and finished homes aren't punished — the math finally favours building.
Read the case →We modelled six pathways for introducing a land value tax in British Columbia — from a revenue-neutral split-rate to a full shift off income and property taxes — with projections on housing, productivity, and the public purse.
Explore the options /guaranteed-income A national applicationReinvest publicly generated land values to fund a national guaranteed income that keeps Canadians out of poverty — while building a fairer housing system and rewarding work over speculation.
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