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   Nemo_bis 🌈 (nemobis@mamot.fr)'s status on Friday, 29-Nov-2024 16:10:09 JST Nemo_bis 🌈

   #Google will build new DCs near Oulu, #Finland, and bought 1400 hectares of forest from the state. Both locations are near a 400 kV power transmission line, judging from openinframap.
   https://yle.fi/a/74-20128014

   The state should rent this land to Google, not sell it. The value of this land for Google is determined by the amount of public investment around it. Now every further public investment will be an untaxed gift to Google.

   (Yes I'm an hypocrite. My apartment building owns its own land plot.)

   • Embed this notice
     Nemo_bis 🌈 (nemobis@mamot.fr)'s status on Saturday, 30-Nov-2024 06:11:36 JST Nemo_bis 🌈

     in reply to

     • mlinksva

     @mlinksva I think the main property taxes on real estate in Finland are the transfer tax (recently reduced) https://www.vero.fi/en/individuals/property/transfer-tax/ and inheritance taxes (recently changed to be spread out over very long periods). There's also a property tax but it's municipal, usually negligible. https://www.vero.fi/en/individuals/property/real-estate-tax/

     In Helsinki, where land is very expensive, the real property tax is that you pay rent to the city for the land under your building. ~400 M€ in rentals vs. 300 in tax. https://www.hel.fi/en/news/city-of-helsinki-financial-statements-2022-better-than-budgeted-due-to-increased-tax-revenue

   • Embed this notice
     mlinksva (mlinksva@mastodon.social)'s status on Saturday, 30-Nov-2024 06:11:37 JST mlinksva

     in reply to

     @nemobis made me search for Finland land value tax (my naive undersanding outcome should approximate state renting/being landlord for all land?) not expecting anything apart from random advocacy but apparently exists or did in some small form https://fig.net/resources/proceedings/fig_proceedings/fig2017/papers/ts06i/TS06I_peltola_8666.pdf though not in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_value_tax#Implementation

   • Embed this notice
     Nemo_bis 🌈 (nemobis@mamot.fr)'s status on Saturday, 30-Nov-2024 06:17:42 JST Nemo_bis 🌈

     in reply to

     • mlinksva

     @mlinksva I'm thinking of the investment in the power grid, which needs to be expanded for electrification. If DCs seem to be the main beneficiary, at some point you can get popular opposition even to very necessary infrastructure investments. This is a huge political controversy in the Netherlands for example. Adjusting rents for specific areas is easier than rethinking power grid charges.

   • Embed this notice
     mlinksva (mlinksva@mastodon.social)'s status on Saturday, 30-Nov-2024 06:17:43 JST mlinksva

     in reply to

     @nemobis more recent (2022 vs 2017) mention https://www.esri.com/about/newsroom/arcnews/property-tax-overhaul-in-finland-relies-on-advanced-spatial-analysis/ (warning: presumably promoting proprietary map data/software?) maybe only for residential structures/land?

     Anyway value of land where data centers built seem like relatively unlikely to increase due to surrounding investment (what investment, in the middle of nowhere, or am I wrong?) vs say shopping centers and their parking lots, but if data centers can nonetheless motivate reform, glad to see it.

   • Embed this notice
     Nemo_bis 🌈 (nemobis@mamot.fr)'s status on Saturday, 30-Nov-2024 06:34:18 JST Nemo_bis 🌈

     in reply to

     • mlinksva

     @mlinksva And yes your links show that this sort of information can be embedded in the property tax updates but these take forever, I'm not sure they can be effective for the case where a parcel of land radically changes value overnight due to infrastructure investments nearby.