Development Tax in France as a Tool for Land Value Capture and Social Equity

In a context of severe pressure on public budgets, aging urban infrastructure, and increasing pressures of urbanization, municipalities, and metropolitan regions on five continents are looking at techniques of land value capture (LVC) in order to complement the fiscal tools of taxation. This paper examines how one such LVC instrument can also provide community benefits measured with a social equity lens. The research focuses on the French case of the Taxe d’Amenagement (TA), or development tax, a one-time assessment imposed on new development. The French TA mixes taxation and LVC purposes. After presenting an overview of the French system of LVC instruments and discussing their ability to provide community benefits, we focus on the TA with an in-depth analysis of two field cases in the metropoles of Bordeaux and Strasbourg where the land market is under pressure, prompting public local authorities to intervene. Local practice will reveal two different modes of capturing value (revenue) with different impact, in terms of social and spatial equity.