what about the land online? "Most people these days have never heard of the idea of an LVT, but the idea that it is a perfect tax has been around for centuries. Adam Smith noted its efficiency. David Ricardo was all for it. It was hugely promoted by the US newspaper editor Henry George in the US in the late 19th century: George believed that LVT should be a single tax. Its efficiency and productivity-enhancing effects would be such that all other taxes could and should be done away with. It was a hobbyhorse of Winston Churchill’s. He was convinced that “land differs from all other sorts of property” and put the LVT case like this: “Unearned increments in land are not the only form of unearned or undeserved profit, but they are the principal form of unearned increment, and they are derived from processes which are not merely not beneficial, but positively detrimental to the general public.” He also offered a fabulous example of unearned betterment. A parish church started to give out free food to poor people living in a particular area. Demand to live in the area rose. The main beneficiaries of this surge in community spending? Local landowners. Their rents and hence the value of their land rose in response to the free bread. And the effect on the poor? Entirely neutral: they paid less for their food but more for their shelter."
Posted on: Sat, 28 Sep 2013 01:40:07 +0000
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