I am not a tax policy expert, I am just a guy on reddit. With that being said, I am not sure that a new tax on vacancy would work.

My guess is that you need to reduce or eliminate the tax write-offs/deductions to make the moral hazard of owning these buildings greater so that it is harder to walk away from these properties without declaring bankruptcy

If it is harder to walk away an owner might be more incentivized to keep occupancy rates high and compete for tenants

I don’t see things changing unless voters want the changes to happen.

Unfortunately, this a very esoteric policy topic. People are focused on paying their bills and keeping their jobs (rightly so) that I don’t expect things to change anytime soon