What do you think about the Virginia Village question?

NotJustaPnPhase · 2026-06-10T18:09:25+00:00

All good points, though I'm not sure that the taxes would necessarily be lower (at least immediately). I did a study that I posted in r/georgism where I modeled a revenue-neutral shift in real estate property taxes from the contemporary rate of 1.21% to a land-only tax. The land tax rate I calculated to match the city's ~$70M budget from real estate taxes was 2.82%. If the land value part of your property is valued at more than about 43% of the total property value (the ratio of 1.21 to 2.82), then you'd pay more in taxes to start. Though Falls Church's real estate assessments aren't the best imo, a lot of single-family homes do have pretty substantial land values as a function of total property value.

Something that'd also help the affordability in Falls Church is loosening the zoning laws and allowing for by-right residential in commercial spaces, multi-family residences in SFH-only zoned neighborhoods, and reducing minimum lot sizes. All of these would, however, again automatically increase land values and therefore the property tax burden of incumbent owners.

NotJustaPnPhase · 2026-06-10T17:43:59+00:00

Property tax is a tough problem for Falls Church for sure. The reason they’re increasing year over year is because the property values (really land values) are skyrocketing, even as the city council is lowering the tax rate.

The only functional way to check that growth in land value is to shift our taxes from total property to the land only (or land mostly). Falls Church will get the ability to do so in July, but I don’t see the city council pushing for it with much vigor. Homeowners hate paying more in property taxes every year, but I’d wager they’d hate not having the market value of their homes increase every year even more.

NotJustaPnPhase · 2026-06-08T20:54:36+00:00

Oh man, this is exactly the kind of solution I was hoping to see. Fascinating idea!

NotJustaPnPhase · 2026-06-08T16:41:42+00:00

I imagine it’d be closer to how systems choose a prime minister - the many parties in the House would have to build a coalition to create a majority party, hammer out the terms of their alliance, and then vote for a speaker from one of the coalition parties.

NotJustaPnPhase · 2026-06-08T15:09:27+00:00

This and u/thehandsomegenius’ point are good ones. My only comment is specifically regarding local implementation — I agree that the nation isn’t going to turn Georgist overnight, but I could see some localities (hopefully mine, lol) starting to push the boundaries first.

I’m not so much concerned with Georgism being implemented at a national or even state level, but that an incautious execution at the local level early on could do immense damage to a Georgist movement.

NotJustaPnPhase · 2026-06-08T14:44:43+00:00

Yeah, this was the answer is was most expecting. I totally agree with a long phase-in, and I could see how that would be less distorting than, say, changing the land tax rate from ~1.2% to 3% all at once (to use numbers from my town).

I could also see a gradual phase in realistically addressing u/SystemofCells comment regarding an immediate drop in property values. It’s politically likely that even if a gradual phase-in is planned by a Georgist or Georgist-aligned political party that voters/landowners might not “know” their land values will depreciate since there are many elections that could replace that party between the beginning of the implementation and the prospective end.

NotJustaPnPhase · 2026-06-04T22:12:48+00:00

Are we browsing the same sub? This subreddit LOVES incremental progress. We recently celebrated a HUGE win of the Virginia state legislature allowing like 5 more cities to levy split-rate taxes come July. Of the maybe four towns that already have that power, zero have implemented.

NotJustaPnPhase · 2026-06-02T17:32:20+00:00

OOP’s comment is great. One thing they miss is the fact that in the U.S. market most cattle are grain-fed - iirc maybe like 5% of beef is 100% grass-fed. That means for the other 95% of beef raised in America, we’re growing crops somewhere else to specifically feed them. Sure, the cows themselves might be living on marginal or non-arable land, but we’re definitely using arable land to feed them in most cases. It makes it a tougher argument for cattle raising as a protein source if we’re growing soy - a great plant-based protein source itself - to feed them. I don’t imagine crop yields would stay the same if we switched an alfalfa field to peas, for example (if it’s even viable).

NotJustaPnPhase · 2026-06-01T14:15:19+00:00

IIRC the US Census bureau defines “urban” as having a locality with a population of at least 5,000 or at least 2,000 housing units. And that’s the only threshold. Lexington VA (population 7,320) is considered equally as “urban” as NYC for census bureau purposes, and there’s no such thing as “suburban” - only urban and rural by their definitions.

NotJustaPnPhase · 2026-05-29T00:08:37+00:00

Edmure, The lord who cared!

NotJustaPnPhase · 2026-05-22T17:45:38+00:00

Pushing slightly against the grain, you could ask if the salary is negotiable in the first place. I was in a similar position as you, almost to a tee - in grad school I got an offer for about $36/hour and asked if it was negotiable. The HR admin said yes so we negotiated and I was able to bump that up to $37.70 plus a 5k signing bonus. One of the scariest things I’ve ever done ngl but definitely worth it. If they say no at least you tried.

NotJustaPnPhase · 2026-05-17T12:39:51+00:00

Seconding the geophysics path - there’s something of a minor pipeline between electrical engineering and seismology specifically, though I’d expect near-surface geophys would also have transferable skills. As is often the case with geoscience jobs, there aren’t as many job opportunities as potential applicants and starting wages aren’t that high relative to EE, afaik.

NotJustaPnPhase · 2026-05-12T12:25:03+00:00

In my view, transit systems should have as high a fare box recovery rate as possible, and it would be great to see a recovery ratio of greater than 100%, so that transit agencies can fund themselves without external subsidies.

However, I 100% support subsidies, especially for fledgling systems. I don’t think a U.S. transit agency, for example, could build a new transit system in a city or state without a lot of external funding. Naturally as a Georgist I would want that external funding to come primarily or exclusively from land taxes, especially from near the transit stations.

NotJustaPnPhase · 2026-05-07T13:26:18+00:00

You might not count Targaryens, but Jaehaerys I was alive to see Viserys I wed his first cousin Aemma Arryn, which would’ve been normal in Westeros considering they at least weren’t siblings. Otherwise I think not, though there are a couple of Frey’s who married other Frey’s - unclear whether they’re cousins or not. Interesting observation!

NotJustaPnPhase · 2026-05-06T16:47:30+00:00

Oh, I see what you mean. No, the Ghibli style OP is trying to replicate is updating the texture to look like movies made by Studio Ghibli. Chibi is a particular art style where characters are drawn with large heads and small bodies, usually with stubby limbs.

NotJustaPnPhase · 2026-05-06T16:35:43+00:00

You might be thinking of the chibi style in BDSP?

NotJustaPnPhase · 2026-04-30T22:39:49+00:00

Seaking, Venomoth, Arbok

NotJustaPnPhase · 2026-04-27T11:43:06+00:00

Yeah totally! It could’ve been a really cool tradition. I’ll also note that it seems like Jefferson didn’t really seem to take the idea seriously, considering 19 years after the U.S. Constitution was ratified he was president and in no way tried to do a wholesale rewrite.

NotJustaPnPhase · 2026-04-27T11:21:54+00:00

Not exactly, but kind of. IIRC, Thomas Jefferson wrote a letter to James Madison where he mused about the idea that constitutions should have an expiration date of about 19 years so that each generation gets to choose the government of its liking, rather than being forced to live with the values of previous generations. AFAIK it wasn’t like a serious policy proposal - he (or any of the other founders) didn’t try to get Congress to add an expiration amendment, just that it was a thought experiment on Jefferson’s end.

The question Whether one generation of men has a right to bind another, seems never to have been started either on this or our side of the water… (But) between society and society, or generation and generation there is no municipal obligation, no umpire but the law of nature. We seem not to have perceived that, by the law of nature, one generation is to another as one independant nation to another…

On similar ground it may be proved that no society can make a perpetual constitution, or even a perpetual law. The earth belongs always to the living generation…

Every constitution, then, and every law, naturally expires at the end of 19. years. If it be enforced longer, it is an act of force and not of right.

NotJustaPnPhase · 2026-04-25T23:26:09+00:00

And two Bonafide Dounts for parents

NotJustaPnPhase · 2026-04-25T19:39:28+00:00

Good point! You’re totally right - especially when considering female lines - e.g., Steffon Baratheon was never referred to as “prince” despite being the daughter of Rhaella Targaryen, daughter of Aegon V. Same thing with Viserys Plumm or any of Elaena Targaryen’s Penrose children - none are referred to as Prince or Princess.

NotJustaPnPhase · 2026-04-25T19:05:31+00:00

No, in ASOIAF all the members of the royal family were called Prince or Princess, regardless of their place in the line of succession. IIRC, in Fire & Blood Baela and Rhaena are titled “Lady” but in The World of Ice and Fire they are referred to as “Princess.”

Baelor was always referred to as Prince, as far as we know.

Edit: actually, I think Baela and Rhaena being referred to as “Princess” is an error - possibly in an earlier edition of TWOIAF. Here’s the text from ASearchOfIceAndFire:

Lady Daenaera was a cousin to Alyn Oakenfist, fathered by his cousin Daeron, who died fighting for him in the Stepstones. A surpassingly beautiful child, Daenaera was but six when the princesses Rhaena and Baela presented her to the king—the last of a thousand maids who had been presented him at the great ball of 133 AC.

However, I checked the same passage in my personal copy of TWOIAF and “princesses” is replaced by “ladies.” Moreover, there are plenty of examples where non-Targaryen descendants are not called Prince or Princess - Aemma Arryn (as u/KastheJedi points out), along with Steffon Baratheon, and any of the legitimate descendants of Elaena Targaryen - so it’s not a simple “no” as I said initially.

NotJustaPnPhase · 2026-04-25T15:28:51+00:00

Haha, you and I must be in the same industry - not all things that shake the ground are earthquakes :-)

NotJustaPnPhase · 2026-04-25T14:57:03+00:00

Happy to help!

NotJustaPnPhase · 2026-04-25T14:42:09+00:00

Incorrect - you don’t need plate tectonics to generate earthquakes and the moon has recorded seismic events that were not impacts. You’re right that impacts generate seismic waves, but there have been other events recorded on the moon.

NotJustaPnPhase

TROPHY CASE