Advocates of land value taxation say that the city's current tax system penalizes property owners for making improvements to their properties. Switching to land value taxation, which sets a value on the land and does not tax improvements, would give developers and property owners an incentive to build on vacant land or to improve distressed properties, they say. | Joshua Vincent, the executive director of the Henry George Foundation of America and an expert on land value tax, is the guest speaker for a Friends of the Public Library presentation at noon on Wednesday, April 8, at the Central Library. The event is free and open to the public. | Not everyone sees a switch to land value taxation as a happy meal for Rochester. | "I don't see any way it could be implemented any time soon," says City Council member Carolee Conklin. "We have to be very careful because our tax base has stabilized and is actually growing." | Rochester is a fiscally conservative city, Conklin says, and land value taxation would be a radical change to something most people don't fully understand. | Vincent will meet with members of City Council on Thursday, April 9.