Detroit is only second to New York City when it comes to overall tax burden, according to some estimates.

And when it comes to property taxes, due to the systems of incentives, breaks, Neighborhood Enterprise Zones and other financial tools, it’s very possible a loft downtown with a higher value can have a far lower tax rate than a neighborhood house.

Matthew X. Roling shares with us on this episode of the Daily Detroit podcast how he thinks a split rate property tax system would slow down land speculators, lower tax bills for actual homeowners, and encourage development without doing massive giveaways.

Oh, and it’d be revenue neutral, too. This is something that’s actually been talked about among leadership, but would require a change in state law to make possible.

It also might break some of the addiction Detroit has for incentives. Those incentives often reduce the property tax burden to what are basically normal state levels.

That’d even the playing field for smaller and individual developers, including people who want to fix up a house to live in.