With the present state of things the man’s profit is 100% legal. Our government supports the private ownership of land (as do I) but not justly.
It should be clear to all who think about the situation that the profit that man takes for the land is not his. In effect he is stealing but our system allows (and encourages) such activity. He has not labored in any way such that is rightly proportional to his wage.
The man is not working but is eating pretty darn well.
There is no such thing as a free lunch. The profit the man has accumulated for himself MUST come from somewhere and the “somewhere” is the community at large. He did not steal from any one person but instead has, in effect, robbed everybody.
The community gave his property value, therefore the increase in value is the community’s not his.
Solution:[/b:9364e69042]
There are many possible ways of fixing this problem but the only one which has convinced me would work is this:
a tax on the value of land (not capital improvements) and decrease (ideally get rid of) all other taxes. [/i:9364e69042]
This would result in the most efficient use of land and the fairest distribution of wealth. Wasteful development (Sprawl) would no longer be economically beneficial, there would be no vacant lots in downtown areas, and the worker would keep his wage – increasing productivity. Free trade would also get a huge boost as we would no longer penalize each transaction with a sales tax, gas tax, or capital improvement tax.
We would be free to produce at full capacity and once again compete with China and other nations.
No longer would we penalize anybody for being productive! Instead man would eat the fruit of his hands and the increased wealth produced by the community at large would be owned and shared by that community. Communities would have the money to support great Civic Art – the one thing that, for all the joys of living in America, is one of her true downfalls.
There has been some work being done in this area (see links below) but as Christians we should lobby for and spread the word about such a tax system. It would bring communities together physically (which will encourage the natural spreading of the Gospel) and it would encourage the development of an economically just society.
Trevor
Mar 05 2005
02:52 pm
With the present state of things the man’s profit is 100% legal. Our government supports the private ownership of land (as do I) but not justly.
It should be clear to all who think about the situation that the profit that man takes for the land is not his. In effect he is stealing but our system allows (and encourages) such activity. He has not labored in any way such that is rightly proportional to his wage.
The man is not working but is eating pretty darn well.
There is no such thing as a free lunch. The profit the man has accumulated for himself MUST come from somewhere and the “somewhere” is the community at large. He did not steal from any one person but instead has, in effect, robbed everybody.
The community gave his property value, therefore the increase in value is the community’s not his.
Solution:[/b:9364e69042]There are many possible ways of fixing this problem but the only one which has convinced me would work is this:
a tax on the value of land (not capital improvements) and decrease (ideally get rid of) all other taxes. [/i:9364e69042]This would result in the most efficient use of land and the fairest distribution of wealth. Wasteful development (Sprawl) would no longer be economically beneficial, there would be no vacant lots in downtown areas, and the worker would keep his wage – increasing productivity. Free trade would also get a huge boost as we would no longer penalize each transaction with a sales tax, gas tax, or capital improvement tax.
We would be free to produce at full capacity and once again compete with China and other nations.
No longer would we penalize anybody for being productive! Instead man would eat the fruit of his hands and the increased wealth produced by the community at large would be owned and shared by that community. Communities would have the money to support great Civic Art – the one thing that, for all the joys of living in America, is one of her true downfalls.
There has been some work being done in this area (see links below) but as Christians we should lobby for and spread the word about such a tax system. It would bring communities together physically (which will encourage the natural spreading of the Gospel) and it would encourage the development of an economically just society.