|
Misunderstandings of Land Value
Taxation
When words are used imprecisely, or words or phrases
change in meaning over time, misunderstandings may
result. One of the goals of this website is to help the
reader make the important distinctions precisely!
Louis Post: Outlines of Louis F. Post's
Lectures, with Illustrative Notes and Charts (1894)
— Appendix: FAQ
Q7. If a man owns a city lot with a $5000 building
on it, what, under the single tax, would hinder another
man, perhaps with hostile intent, from bidding a higher
tax than the first man was able to pay, and thus ousting
him from his building?
A. The question rests upon a misapprehension of
method. The single tax is not a method of nationalizing
land and renting it out to the highest bidder. It is a
method of taxation. And it would not only hinder, it
would prevent the unjust ousting of another from his
building. The single tax falls upon land-owners in
proportion to the unimproved value of their land; and
this value is determined by the real estate market
— by the demands of the whole community — and
not by arbitrary bids. No one could oust a man from his
building by bidding more for the land on which it stood
than the occupier was paying; the single tax would not be
increased in any case unless the land upon which it fell
was in so much greater demand that the owner could let it
for a higher rent. ... read the book
Charles B. Fillebrown: A Catechism of
Natural Taxation, from Principles of Natural
Taxation (1917)
Q9. Does not the single tax mean the
nationalization of land?
A. No; as Henry George has said, "the primary error of
the advocates of land nationalization is in their
confusion of equal rights with joint rights. ... In
truth, the right to the use of land is not a joint or
common right, but an equal right; a joint or common right
is to rent."* It means rather the socialization of
economic rent. It simply proposes gradually to divert an
increasing share of ground rent into the public
treasury.
*A
Perplexed Philosopher, Part III, Chapter XI:
Compensation ... read the whole
article
|
To share this page with a friend:
right click, choose "send," and add your
comments.
|
|
|
|
Red links have not been
visited; .
Green links are pages you've seen
|
Essential Documents pertinent
to this theme:
essential_documents
|
|