Re: 1911 Reference Book Defines Georgism

Mark M. wrote:
The Handy Cyclopedia of Things Worth Knowing

The single tax would not fall on all land, but only on valuable land,
and on that in proportion to its value. It would thus be a tax, not on
use or improvements, but on ownership of land, taking what would
otherwise go to the landlord as owner.
....
The single-tax system would, they claim, dispense with a horde of
tax-gatherers, simplify government, and greatly reduce its cost;

Note this is a pipe dream. Read the above statement. We would still need a horde of assessors to determine what is rent and it would not simplify government or reduce costs. This would mean much more complex appraisals of land then it is today, assuming they want to tax every piece to 0 rent. There would have to be a different rate set on each piece of land. Fertile Iowa corn land would have to be taxed at different rate than barren land in SD. The current appraisal systems SLGs have to today would have to be severely upgraded.

THis is not to say LVT doesn't have benefits but often supports here overstate the benefit and understate the cost. This is a prime example of that.

give us
with all the world that absolute free trade which now exists between the
States of the Union:

Not this was written before income taxes and tariff bills were major issues and sources for government revenue. It is arguable that the US civil war had some roots in tariffs which protected Northern industry and did nothing but cause cost for Southern industry. South Carolina almost withdrew from the union 20 years before the civil war due to tariff issues. Calhoun supported the doctrine of nulification which would allow states to nullify federal law. SC refused to collect tariffs in their ports and nearly seceded. Lincoln's inaugural address stated status quo on slavery but threatened military action if tariffs were not collected. This was in light of Northern states often refusing to enforce federal law, which at the time these laws were immoral, while military action was threatened for failing to enforce tariffs.

In short tariffs were a big issue up to 1914 when income taxes became the major source of revenue.

abolish all taxes on private issues of money;

Again these taxes were eliminated in 1914 when the Fed was created and there was no more private issue of money. The Fed was responsible for the money supply from then on.

take
the weight of taxation from agricultural districts, where land has
little or no value apart from improvements, and put it upon valuable
land, such as city lots and mineral deposits.

Again here we go different tax rates. If a flat ad valeroum tax were on all land then all would have an equal burden in percentage of value.

It would call upon men to
contribute for public expenses in proportion to the natural
opportunities they monopolize, and make it unprofitable for speculators
to hold land unused or only partly used, thus opening to labor unlimited
fields of employment, solving the labor problem and abolishing
involuntary poverty.

Pipe dream. Just because land was taxed would not have created the stable banking system the Fed started to create in 1914. Without banks the land stays in the hands of a few wealthy and if the traditional assertions don't hold then they raise rent (money paid to the landlord not economic rent) to offset the tax.

I know the Georgist will stay that won't happen but it relies on rigid assumptions that I posted a lot of arguments and data against.

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Land, Labour and Capital Taxation....
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  • Re: Land, Labour and Capital Taxation....
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