Difference between revisions of "Georgism"
From Critiques Of Libertarianism
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| − | {{DES | des = Most libertarians are opposed to property taxes. The Georgists have an answer that libertarians are unable to rebut. Also known as Single Tax, Land Tax, etc. The idea is that a tax on land is the only legitimate tax because land is not man-made. | show=}} | + | {{DES | des = Most libertarians are opposed to property taxes. The Georgists have an answer that libertarians are unable to rebut. Also known as Single Tax, Land Tax, etc. The idea is that a tax on land is the only legitimate tax because land is not man-made. This is not enough to fund modern society, but if the idea is extended to all socially owned resources, it is.| show=}} |
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| + | Libertarians generally have no decent response to Georgist justifications of a tax on land. David Friedman points out that because "most income in a modern society does not come from unproduced resources, hence the solution to the problem of who is entitled to collect it does not matter very much -- not a very satisfactory response, but I had no better one." In other words, because land taxes could not raise enough to fund a welfare state, the issue could be ignored. The environment is also unproduced: its abuse by polluters and despoilers could also be taxed by Georgist justifications, including carbon taxes. | ||
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| + | The Georgist idea of unproduced means "unproduced by humans." But if we expand the idea a little to mean "unproduced by individual humans", then all social facilities are unproduced, and thus taxation based on their use is justified. Take for example the very large value of American residency: you get to live and work in America, with excellent defense, law enforcement and economy. People spend large amounts of money to immigrate legally or illegally. Residents make use of this value: why should they not be taxed for it as they might be taxed under a Georgist system of paying taxes on land they use? | ||
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{{List|title=Georgism|links=true}} | {{List|title=Georgism|links=true}} | ||
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