The Institute for Northern Ontario Research and Development (INORD) is bringing Steven Cord, a retired professor of economics at the University of Pennsylvania, to Sudbury this week to speak about municipal tax reform.
Cord stated in a press release that “land value taxation has been tried in the USA. It promotes growth and it helps cut taxes. It can work in Sudbury.”
The professor will speak in Sudbury three times: in the GSDC board room at 1 p.m. on Feb. 10, in room C309 at Laurentian at 3 p.m. on Feb. 10, and at a Chamber of Commerce breakfast on Feb. 12 at 8:30 a.m.
The event was set up by INORD, in collaboration with the Center for Local Government at Laurentian University, Laurentian University's department of economics, the Chamber of Commerce and the Greater Sudbury Development Corporation.
“The property tax system hurts development,” Laurentian University economics professor David Robinson wrote in an e-mail. “It is unfair.”
Cord said one perk of the system is the possibility of tax rates dropping, he said. “Most people see their taxes go down with land value taxation.”
He cites hundreds of studies and reports as well as Nobel Prize-winning economists supporting land value taxation.
INORD focuses on devleoping northern Ontario's society and economy. It has published a variety of materials since it was founded in 1987, including books, reports, general commentaries, miscellaneous presentations, and studies.
