Join host Will Jarvis as he sits down with James Cusick, a former AT&T Bell Laboratories software engineer and adjunct faculty member at Columbia University, who found his way to property tax policy through the Henry George School in Manhattan. The conversation covers the principles of land value taxation, how a single tax on land could replace all other taxes at the local, city, and even federal level, the role of land value capture in transit-oriented development like New York's High Line and subway system, and the problem of speculative land-holding in cities like New York and Detroit. James also shares insights from Japan's public-private partnership model for rail and real estate development, and introduces the interactive tools he's built to help policymakers and the public explore Georgist economics.

• 00:00 - Introduction to Assessment Matters and guest James Cusick

• 00:37 - James's background in software engineering at Bell Labs and Columbia University
• 01:33 - Discovering the Henry George School and the concept of land value tax
• 02:42 - Building a land value tax calculator covering all U.S. counties
• 04:38 - How a single land value tax could replace all other taxes, including New York City's $125 billion budget
• 05:53 - The pitch to policymakers: simplification, administrative efficiency, and reducing speculation
• 07:42 - Land value capture examples: NYC subway system, the High Line, and Battery Park City
• 09:33 - The problem of vacant lots and speculative land-holding in cities
• 11:52 - Property tax as a "ticket to ride" for public services and the investment vs. affordability tradeoff
• 15:33 - Henry George's anti-speculation philosophy and its modern relevance
• 17:48 - Japan's public-private partnership model for rail and real estate development
• 20:19 - Where to find the Henry George School's tools: LVT calculator, Global Georgism Viewer, subway land value tool, and AI Henry George avatar