In Baden-Württemberg, a quiet reform shows land value taxation isn’t just theory—it’s already happening.
In 2025, Baden-Württemberg – a German state of 11 million residents – implemented a land value tax. Instead of taxing both land and buildings, it taxes land value alone. The experience is still young and the tax rate still small, but it sets a precedent: land value taxes are not politically impossible.
While the reform technically took effect last year, its passage was surprisingly quiet. I first heard about it through a forwarded email months after the fact. This is one of the largest contemporary implementations of a land value tax anywhere in the world, in a major industrial economy.
It deserves more attention.
Read the rest here: https://progressandpoverty.substack.com/p/a-german-state-quietly-implemented