Dan Bertolet

Washington’s property tax system quietly rewards landowners who sit on vacant lots in our cities, while penalizing investment in the new homes, shops, and jobs that create real community value. The fix for this counterproductive dynamic is a land value tax that lowers the tax on buildings and raises it on land.

Washington just passed the United States’ first meaningful reform to lower the cost and size of elevators, which will grow their numbers in new apartment and condo buildings. Elevators in the US and Canada cost three to four times as much as they do elsewhere in the world, meaning they’re often excluded from building plans or tank proposed housing projects altogether.

Decades-long shifts in how people shop, work, and go about their daily lives have resulted in a glut of commercial space across the United States, including in Washington state. Unfortunately, zoning laws in many places restrict commercial zones from also hosting new homes, even in places where housing shortages are most acute. Several states have started loosening rules to allow more homes in commercial zones.