Technically from an economics perspective, raising property taxes has a little impact on rent (in the short-term, with larger impacts over the long-term) and the majority of the tax hike is attributed toward owners (even over the long-term). If the tax was on land instead of building + land, this would be even more true.

The short-answer for why this is since it's complicated and most people don't intuitively get it, is because you can't actually increase or decrease the supply of land in relation to the tax hike, while basic economics most people learn teaches about products that can be reduced or increased in the short-term in related to tax hikes, thus reducing supply and bringing the equilibrium price for the consumer higher. In the instance of pure land taxes, supply/demand doesn't change in the short-term and property taxes are similar.

Over the long-term this differs as less land + buildings for rent are built and thus supply does decrease which allows for consumers to bare the brunt of the tax but typically, the owners still bare the majority of it.

When it comes to cheaper rent prices, I would argue that zoning, rent controls (there should be none) building regulations and renter protections (these should be minimal and virtually non-existent) are some of the major factors in rent prices.

Another tax that has a huge impact on rent prices is taxes directly applied to new construction projects. Many wealthy people in cities have successfully petitioned cities to reduce their prop taxes by taking on large "new construction taxes". They argue new construction projects for new neighborhoods need utilities, fire, police, ambulances etc... all built to accommodate the new areas so it should be the residents of these new areas that pay the cost. There is truth to this but doing this reduces supply and thus increases rent prices. I am in favour of this type of tax but in some cities the tax is "punitive" and seeks to increase the profit of the city rather than be fair in attributing costs. Doing this causes an inefficiency in the supply/demand market which increases cost of rent.

At the end of the day, if you want cheaper rent, make it cheaper and easier to build more rental units. That's it. Lower prop taxes and efficient governments are always better.

Technically from an economics perspective, raising property taxes has a little impact on rent (in the short-term, with larger impacts over the long-term) and the majority of the tax hike is attributed toward owners (even over the long-term). If the tax was on land instead of building + land, this would be even more true.

The short-answer for why this is since it's complicated and most people don't intuitively get it, is because you can't actually increase or decrease the supply of land in relation to the tax hike, while basic economics most people learn teaches about products that can be reduced or increased in the short-term in related to tax hikes, thus reducing supply and bringing the equilibrium price for the consumer higher. The the instance of pure land taxes, supply/demand doesn't change in the short-term and property taxes are similar.

Over the long-term this differs as less land + buildings for rent are built and thus supply does decrease which allows for consumers to bare the brunt of the tax but typically, the owners still bare the majority of it.

When it comes to cheaper rent prices, I would argue that zoning, rent controls (there should be none) building regulations and renter protections (these should be minimal and virtually non-existent) are some of the major factors in rent prices.

Another tax that has a huge impact on rent prices is taxes directly applied to new construction projects. Many wealthy people in cities have successfully petitioned cities to reduce their prop taxes by taking on large "new construction taxes". They argue new construction projects for new neighborhoods need utilities, fire, police, ambulances etc... all built to accommodate the new areas so it should be the residents of these new areas that pay the cost. There is truth to this but doing this reduces supply and thus increases rent prices. I am in favour of this type of tax but in some cities the tax is "punitive" and seeks to increase the profit of the city rather than be fair in attributing costs. Doing this causes an inefficiency in the supply/demand market which increases cost of rent.

At the end of the day, if you want cheaper rent, make it cheaper and easier to build more rental units. That's it. Lower prop taxes and efficient governments are always better.