09-11-2017, 05:56 AM
(This post was last modified: 09-11-2017, 06:08 AM by Eric the Green.)
"Georgism" (based on the views of Henry George some 100-plus years ago) doesn't seem like much worth discussing. It seems based on conditions from that time when land ownership was a principle basis of wealth. That is no longer true; wealth is generated by innovation and technology, and by capital and financial ownership.
People own land and property and have income. Land that no-one owns should be owned by everyone, and land for parks, national purposes, or ecologically-valuable land should be bought up by the state, by NGOs, or acquired through eminent domain. Income and corporate tax is certainly legal and appropriate; libertarians disagree, but so what? Property tax includes the value of land and all improvements on it. I pay it and have no problem with it, although we in CA had Proposition 13 which has protected land and real estate property owned for a long time (especially before 1978) from high taxes. If I remember correctly some states copied California back in those days of the "tax revolt."
People own land and property and have income. Land that no-one owns should be owned by everyone, and land for parks, national purposes, or ecologically-valuable land should be bought up by the state, by NGOs, or acquired through eminent domain. Income and corporate tax is certainly legal and appropriate; libertarians disagree, but so what? Property tax includes the value of land and all improvements on it. I pay it and have no problem with it, although we in CA had Proposition 13 which has protected land and real estate property owned for a long time (especially before 1978) from high taxes. If I remember correctly some states copied California back in those days of the "tax revolt."