iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by David Schleicher

Paul Graf @paulginva.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Anyone interested in the efforts in red states to radically lower or eliminate residential property taxes ought to read this and the paper that accompanies it.

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Reposted by David Schleicher

Derek Gottlieb @derekgottliebphd.com · 15/09/2026

Extremely my shit

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David Schleicher @profschleich.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

❗New Article❗ The Great American Property Tax Freakout! Since 2024, many states have radically reshaped their property tax systems.The changes are an example of a national trend of carving out influential groups from taxation, in this case a majority group: homeowners papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

papers.ssrn.com

The Great American Property Tax Freak Out

There has been a lot of news over the last two years, so it is understandable that neither the mass media nor the legal academy has focused on what is happening

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David Schleicher @profschleich.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Residential prices increased relatively to commercial prices. And spending increased.

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David Schleicher @profschleich.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

The Freakout is an example of something @annielowrey.bsky.social has written about eloquently. Americans are increasingly unwilling to support rate-lowering, base broadening tax reforms or the idea of taxes as shared sacrifice. Everyone is out to get their own tax breaks, including majorities!

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David Schleicher @profschleich.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

And it will make local governments increasingly dependent on state governments for funding. This might lead to greater equality, with states equalizing funding across jurisdictions,, or states might engage in favoritism between jurisdictions.

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David Schleicher @profschleich.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

The Freakout will also have weird effects on land use. Builders will have greater incentives to build legally allowable owner-occupied homes (terrific!), but local governments will have greater fiscal incentives to use zoning to restrict the construction of homes (less terrific!)

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David Schleicher @profschleich.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

The reforms will be great for today’s homeowners, who will pay less in tax, and be able to sell their homes for more (due to capitalization). The cost will be paid by others (those who don’t currently own; commercial properties; other types of taxpayers).

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David Schleicher @profschleich.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

“Home voters” no longer limit themselves to running governments for their own benefit, setting tax levels and services levels that fit their needs. Instead, they increasingly think of local government as a tool for taking resources from commercial property owners and renters.

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David Schleicher @profschleich.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

(In some places, like New York City, they already were!)

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David Schleicher @profschleich.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

These reforms change the nature of the property tax. Rather than being, as “Tieboutians" argue, a tool for property owners to burden themselves to provide wanted services, property taxes are becoming a redistributive tax, sending money from commercial property owners to homeowners.

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David Schleicher @profschleich.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

The Freakout has happened largely in red states, but there are echoes of the same impulse in blue states, like Boston Mayor Wu’s efforts to increase commercial property tax rates because commercial property values have fallen….

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David Schleicher @profschleich.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Why? Housing prices, particularly in suburbs, rose substantially post-COVID. You might think people would be happy to be richer, but they were very angry that their increasing wealth meant increasing property tax burdens. Better to make someone else responsible for the resulting taxes!

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David Schleicher @profschleich.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Almost all of these changes have been dedicated to providing benefits to owner-occupiers of housing, pushing the burden for funding government onto commercial property (including rental buildings) or other tax bases (income, sales, corporate).

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David Schleicher @profschleich.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

The reforms keep on coming: Florida is voting this November on a super-sizing of its homestead exemption for non-school property taxes, exempting more than half of all owner-occupiers from paying.

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David Schleicher @profschleich.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

We have seen major property tax reforms across the country, from Texas to Indiana, from Wyoming to Georgia, the biggest set of changes since the 1970s and 80s (think Prop. 13 and Prop 2 1/2).

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David Schleicher @profschleich.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

The property tax has played a large role in funding governments in America since the founding era, and is the central form of own-source revenue for local governments and schools Only rarely has it been as politically radioactive as it is today.

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David Schleicher @profschleich.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

papers.ssrn.com

The Great American Property Tax Freak Out

There has been a lot of news over the last two years, so it is understandable that neither the mass media nor the legal academy has focused on what is happening

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Reposted by David Schleicher

Max Dubler 🏳️‍🌈 @maxdubler.com · 12/09/2026

“Landmarking just preserves pretty things. And it’s not like preserving the buildings keeps neighborhoods as they were. If that were the case the West Village would be full of artists and folk singers.” - @profschleich.bsky.social

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David Schleicher @profschleich.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

If you want honor sites of sociocultural importance ...“just put up a fucking plaque. This is New York City. It’s not like it’s Paris or some European capital. It’s truer to the spirit of New York to tear down and rebuild instead of putting the city behind glass.” www.curbed.com/article/andr...

curbed.com

The Last NIMBY in a YIMBY Town

Andrew Berman’s crusade to preserve the West Village has put him at odds with just about everyone.

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Reposted by David Schleicher

Joe Fish @sadbusdriver.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

working paper arguing that the 2019 NYC strengthening of rent control lead to substantially less property maintence and lower housing quality. beaubressler.github.io/papers/rent_...

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David Schleicher @profschleich.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

This last point is the most important -- there's no getting around the conflicts between neighborhood control/skepticism about change and addressing the housing conflict. It's equally a (or an even greater) challenge for publicly supported housing as it is for the private market

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David Schleicher @profschleich.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

There's plenty the feds/states can and should do to spur investment in housing, from tax to Fannie and Freddie, but a huge spending program, given fiscal challenges, isn't happening and would still need to overcome the central challenge of zoning reform, neighborhood opposition

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Enabling Acts @enablingacts.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

American property law used to favor building. Since the 1970s, it shifted to protect incumbents who don't build. @rickhills.bsky.social @profschleich.bsky.social New Enabling Acts: 13 papers on housing, energy, and state capacity. www.enablingacts.org/p/may-20-fif...

enablingacts.org

May 20: Fifteen forces driving the secular decline of American state capacity

New Legal Research on Building Abundance

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David Schleicher @profschleich.bsky.social · 30/04/2026

New piece out in @vitalcitynyc.bsky.social on what will happen to NYC politics (and urban politics generally) if the murder rate keeps falling www.vitalcitynyc.org/nyc-declinin...

vitalcitynyc.org

Local Politics, After Murder

How does the decline of lethal violence change the way New York thinks about government leadership?

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Reposted by David Schleicher

The Regulatory Review @theregreview.bsky.social · 15/04/2026

America’s governance crisis is rooted in weak state and local capacity, so reformers should target state and local elections, procedures, and budgets, argue @profschleich.bsky.social of Yale Law School and @nbagley.bsky.social of @umichlaw.bsky.social. www.theregreview.org/2026/04/15/h...

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David Schleicher @profschleich.bsky.social · 25/03/2026

"Boosting pensions “would do something” to keep workers, said David Schleicher, a Yale Law School professor who studies state fiscal systems, “but it’s not clear to me that it is the most or even a mildly efficient method for doing so.”

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Reposted by David Schleicher

Greg Shill @gregshill.com · 24/03/2026

✨Schrödinger’s Crosswalk ✨, joint work with a terrific interdisciplinary team, under submission to law reviews now. It’s a bit unconventional (6,600 words, including a table, plus maps) but, we hope, appealing for the right journal.

Crosswalks carve out a refuge where motorists must yield to people
outside the vehicle. But crosswalks are creatures not just of engineering, but
of law. The law everywhere protects pedestrians on foot in crosswalks, but
that category is narrower than many likely expect. This Article shows that
crosswalk protections vary widely and sometimes contradict the ordinary
expectations of road users. Far from a safe harbor, the result is a form of
jeopardy by law—a physical and legal space this Article calls Schrödinger’s
crosswalk.
This Article presents the first comprehensive study of crosswalk right-of-
way law across all 50 U.S. states. Drawing on a systematic review of state
statutes, administrative codes, and judicial decisions, it maps drivers’ legal
obligations toward different categories of crosswalk users, including
pedestrians on foot, wheelchair users, babies in strollers, bicyclists
(conventional and electric), and e-scooter riders. In some states, drivers must
yield to a person crossing in a wheelchair but not to a baby in a stroller; in
others, the same crossing offers only ambiguous legal protection. A recent
70% surge in pedestrian fatalities makes strengthening these protections
urgent.
The Article follows its comprehensive study with a recommendation as
bold as it is straightforward: states should amend statutory language
governing crosswalks to map onto the intuitive concept of a pedestrian as
someone unprotected by a vehicle. Like the cat in Erwin Schrödinger’s
famous thought experiment—simultaneously alive and dead until observed—
a non-motorist today may be legally required to use a crosswalk yet not
legally protected in it. As the population ages, transportation technology
evolves, and SUVs and trucks grow further in popularity, this protection must
be clarified and fortified.

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David Schleicher @profschleich.bsky.social · 19/03/2026

On this very specific issue one can certainly point to non-resident efforts to influence the outcome - at least one of your co-authors isn’t a resident afaik and his efforts are designed to make the prop pass!

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David Schleicher @profschleich.bsky.social · 18/03/2026

I dunno - I care about politics in a number of states I’ve never resided it (including California). I think your take here is just pretty inconsistent with the reality of our campaign finance system, which features a huge amount of inter-state money.

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David Schleicher @profschleich.bsky.social · 17/03/2026

Are there any tax opinions anywhere that use political donations as evidence of residence?

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David Schleicher @profschleich.bsky.social · 17/03/2026

Of course they do. Michael Bloomberg spent $40M on a tobacco measure, iirc. And it could be about any number of things: not wanting a precedent set, about avoiding risk that they'd lose in a residency hearing, or about their honest belief that this is a bad idea for a state they care about

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David Schleicher @profschleich.bsky.social · 17/03/2026

Do you actually think this is a likely important piece of evidence? Rich people spend money out of state all of the time! Especially if they retain business or other interests (including real property) in the state. May even be a 1st amendment problem if leaned on too heavily

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David Schleicher @profschleich.bsky.social · 20/02/2026

The killer thing is that little blue truck is blocking the box! He’s the one not following the rules!

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Reposted by David Schleicher

Stephen Jacob Smith @stephenjacobsmith.com · 13/02/2026

Michelle Wu seems like kind of a disaster for housing in Boston – very little progress on land use reforms, and supporting a quite draconian statewide rent control regime (rent hikes that can be below inflation, vacancy controls, only a 10-year exemption for new construction)? Yikes

bankerandtradesman.com

Wu Backs Rent Control, Rejects Citywide Rezoning

Boston's mayor threw her support behind a ballot question legalizing rent control, while rejecting any moves to legalize denser housing in single-family districts.

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Sam @samd.bsky.social · 05/02/2026

this is so embarrassing. why is @justinbrannan.bsky.social endorsing our fuelgrannie retweeting local NIMBY gadfly for city council when she literally stood with Vickie Paladino and Curtis Sliwa at a protest against the affordable housing ballot measures

laylalawgisiko
CITY COUNCIL MEMBER
LUSTIN BRANNAN
ENDORSES
LAYLA LAW-GISIKO for city council
LAYLA
LAW-GISIKO
8
laylalawgisiko I'm proud to have Justin Brannan's support. He has fought for public education. I will be a champion of public schools in our great district.

Layla Law-Gisiko 罗蕾菈 reposted
fuelgrannie @fuelgrannie •2d
Replying to @jmaxmann openly and wrongly
Yimbro Bingo
...
NIMBY!
JUST BUILD
MARKET RATE
Austin
I'm fine with leveloper profits
Supply and
Demand
cor
Comparison

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David Schleicher @profschleich.bsky.social · 05/02/2026

Definitely more of a red state thing (but then again Waymo is big in CA). But the possibility of speeding up projects - reducing local externalities and financing costs - seems like potentially a big deal.

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David Schleicher @profschleich.bsky.social · 22/01/2026

The end of last year was also really low, with the days long no murder streak and a 38% decline in December (from the previous December)

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David Schleicher @profschleich.bsky.social · 22/01/2026

Probably some random variation in this, but NYC's murder rate continues to decline quickly this year, following last year's big decline. It's *70%* lower than at this time last year www.nyc.gov/assets/nypd/...

nyc.gov

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Stan Oklobdzija @stano.bsky.social · 22/12/2025

Every homeowner should be barred from future votes on housing since the potential for gain is far higher than Jesse Zwick's piddly ass nonprofit salary.

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David Schleicher @profschleich.bsky.social · 13/11/2025

Getting to do this lecture -- which sought to provide a structural explanation for why urban public services in America struggle despite the high productivity of our private sector -- was such a thrill! law.yale.edu/yls-today/ne...

law.yale.edu

Professor David Schleicher Delivers Inaugural Walter E. Meyer Lecture

Professor David N. Schleicher delivered his inaugural lecture — “Broken Machines: Law and the Challenge of Making Big Cities Work — before an audience of friends, family, and members of the Yale commu...

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Opinion Today @opiniontoday.bsky.social · 31/10/2025

OPINION TODAY featured podcast — @samuelmoyn.bsky.social and @profschleich.bsky.social speak with @johnfabianwitt.bsky.social about his new book, The Radical Fund: How a Band of Visionaries and a Million Dollars Upended America. (Digging a Hole) opiniontoday.substack.com/i/177452350/...

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