Re:Does Georgism work? Is land a big deal?
by lmm on Thursday December 09, 2021 @01:41AM
(#29494537)
The value of gold is mostly the cost of labour etc. to extract it; to the extent that it's just the value of the land that it was dug out of, sure, I'd support taxing it. Most Georgists support extending the land value tax to other kinds of economic land e.g. slices of radio spectrum. But physical land is the big one that affects society (particularly because everyone needs some land to live on), so it's the most important one to tax.
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Re:Does Georgism work? Is land a big deal?
by mcny on Thursday December 09, 2021 @07:15AM
(#29496494)
» Most Georgists support extending the land value tax to other kinds of economic land e.g. slices of radio spectrum.
This makes me wonder, do roads pay land tax? I think railway tracks do but I'm not sure about roads.
Personally I think more of the spectrum should be like 2.4GHz, 5 GHz (and soon 6GHz?). No auctions. No owners.
Re:Does Georgism work? Is land a big deal?
by amablue on Thursday December 09, 2021 @10:11AM
(#29498181)
If we are going full Georgist, yes, even the government would pay taxes on its own land, which includes the land for roads and railways.
Re:Does Georgism work? Is land a big deal?
by epistasis on Thursday December 09, 2021 @11:32AM
(#29499453)
But it's important to note that this is a different question than if the roads have tolls on them. (Not that you implied that in any way, but it is a confusion that happens!)
Rather, the tax on the land of the roads is an accounting mechanism to ensure that the land is being used for greater economic efficiency, rather than, say, a way forward wealthy people who live far away to get the public to subsidize the transport to their large mansions.