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Georgism stipulates that it doesn't matter who owns the land so long as they pay a tax on it that goes back to the people. You could say that the people really
by klipt 2y ago
Georgism stipulates that it doesn't matter who owns the land so long as they pay a tax on it that goes back to the people.
You could say that the people really own the land and call it "land rent" instead of "land tax" but mathematically its the same thing.
- tmnvix 2y agoWhat I appreciate about Georgism is that it can neatly avoid the difficult issue of justifying exclusive use of land without resorting to ideas like 'First Occupation' or vindicating violent acquisition. Essentially, you could say that all land starts out as - and remains - common property (because nobody created it) but a land value tax allows an individual to 'purchase' the exclusive rights to a natural resource by compensating the owners (i.e. everyone else) for their exclusion. In George's terminology 'land' effectively includes all natural resources. This gives us a good analogy that most people might not consider when thinking about private ownership of land. The radio spectrum. We generally do not allow private ownership of a portion of the radio spectrum but instead ask for payment for exclusive use of the resource for a determined amount of time. To allow ownership in perpetuity based on a one-off payment seems simply wrong in this case. Land, water, etc are similar.
- sooheon 2y agoTotally! You have clearly understood George's most important insights.