State of Connecticut launches Land Value Tax Pilot

On June 20, 2013, Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy signed into law an act permitting - as a pilot program - a limited number of communities to try out land value taxation (LVT) . Initially, three communities will have the opportunity to apply for permission to use the program, with more to follow if LVT is proved successful. More details can be found in Onthecommons.

In the USA, a country not noted for being social progressive, local communities can launch innovative tax intitiaves due to the great extent to which many powers are devolved from federal down to state and county or city level. This localism is built into the US constitution which prevents the federal government from centralizing power at the whim of national politicians, a situation which fans of localism in the UK can only look on with envy.