I posed the question “why is there a housing shortage in the 4th largest yet 48th least populated US state?”
Note that the people who live and work there need — for simple economic reasons — to live near other people, ie, jobs, commerce, existing municipal services. Bozeman and Butte are no different than New York or San Francisco in that regard. People go there to find work, just as people have gone to the cities forever.
So once again, we have established the value of cities and land, of density (relatively speaking), but we seem unable to grasp that that value belongs to those who created it, those who live and work there. Wealthy paradise seekers want a piece of whatever Montana or NorCal in its day has to offer. It’s up to those who live in those cities themselves, who created that value, to decide how to recoup their investment. A few lucky speculators shouldn’t control that, shouldn’t be allowed to sell off huge parcels and drive the price of land out of reach of those who need to be there in favor of a few who just want to be there a few weeks a year.
A ground rent that reflects the highest and best use of land and encourages its development to meet that expectation would allow people to live and work where they want to, defeat sprawl (by making exurbs unaffordable and already earmarked land impossible not to develop), and fund services without fear of losing the tax base. The land itself is the tax base.