Local finance: underpinning or undermining sustainable land use

1. LOCAL FINANCE: UNDERPINNING OR
UNDERMINING SUSTAINABLE LAND USE?
Hansjörg Blöchliger
Head, OECD Network on Fiscal Relations
Green Growth and Sustainable Development Forum
Paris, 9 and 10 November 2016

2. Local fiscal policy
can be a main driver of land use
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Land use

3. How could government structure
affect land use?
• Fiscal decentralisation: inter-jurisdictional fiscal
competition, sub-national governments may turn to
“fiscal zoning”, fostering urban sprawl.
• Fiscal centralisation: complacency, sub-national
governments have few incentives to develop land,
thereby limiting growth and affordable housing
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4. Local fiscal instruments should be
aligned with land use regulation
• Local fiscal instruments should be aligned with land use
policy, in order to better achieve land use objectives.
• Well-designed property taxation – in particular a pure
land tax – could underpin sustainable land use and
urban re-development.
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