Final answer:
Government-imposed taxes on land lead to shared burden between renters and landowners, with the exact impact depending on supply and demand elasticities. Rent control policies can cause housing shortages and reduce rental unit availability, counteracting the intended benefit of such regulations.
Step-by-step explanation:
In a market where the equilibrium rent for land is $1,000 per acre, if the government imposes a tax on land, there will likely be a division of the tax burden between renters and landowners. While renters may see an increase in the rent they pay, landowners will experience a reduction in their net-of-tax income. The final rent paid by renters and the net-of-tax income for landowners will depend on the elasticity of supply and demand for land. In general, when supply is perfectly inelastic, as with land, the tax burden falls more heavily on landowners, with renters facing less of an increase in rental costs. However, the exact amounts cannot be determined without specific information on the tax rate and the elasticities of supply and demand.
Considering a scenario where the government introduces rent control policies as illustrated in the provided figures and tables, it may lead to a similar but inverse situation. A price ceiling below the new market rent of $600, set at the original equilibrium price of $500, would likely result in a shortage of housing and a decrease in the quantity of rental units available. This situation underlines the irony that rent control, while intended to assist renters by keeping rents low, often results in a reduced availability of rental units and does not achieve the intended outcome of housing affordability.