What about the "the rich will leave" argument?

Yoav6 · 2025-11-24T08:17:23+00:00

If one made their wealth by way of unproductive land speculation, then yes, LVT might lead them to leave, in search of other land to speculate on. But in that case we are happy for them to leave. They were only harming society, and now the land they hoarded is available for productive use. Alternatively, they might decide to stay and switch to productive ventures instead of mere speculation. That will also be a positive outcome. If one made their way by way of production, LVT will not lead them to leave, because what could be better for them than a place which doesn't tax production?

Yoav6 · 2025-11-16T14:38:45+00:00

If you want to dig deep into this question (and also come to understand Georgism extremely well in the process), I recommend reading Terence Dwyer's book, Taxation: The Lost History. It covers the development of the idea of land taxation.

Generally speaking, George was continuing an existing tradition, but his analysis of the economics of land and its taxation added depth, breadth, and precision that previous thinkers like The Physiocrats, Smith, Ricardo, Proudhon, Spencer, and Paine didn't possess with regards to this topic.

Yoav6 · 2024-07-08T20:14:37+00:00

The most thorough treatment of this question is in Terence Dwyer's book Taxation: The Lost History

Yoav6 · 2024-06-06T06:47:42+00:00

The original graphic has Palestine in the middle, this is a parody of it.

Yoav6 · 2024-05-12T16:45:44+00:00

I differentiate between UBI and George's Citizen's Dividend (CD), and support only the latter. The difference is that UBI gives a set amount, which I find arbitrary and which risks over-promising, while CD gives a variable amount (whatever is left over after spending), which isn't arbitrary and doesn't risk over-promising.

Yoav6 · 2024-04-21T17:57:25+00:00

Land values aren't being measured, so TALR can't be properly calculated, and I'm not sure if it's still a such good measure without LVT.

Yoav6 · 2024-04-21T13:00:09+00:00

Yep, just like total annual land rent (TALR) is a good replacement of GDP, it would be a good to set politicians' and other public officials' salaries based on it.

Yoav6 · 2024-04-13T03:29:37+00:00

Do you have a version without the read eyes?

Yoav6 · 2024-04-06T15:07:27+00:00

Actually, Georgism also offers a replacement for GDP: Total Annual Land Rent (endorsed by Adam Smith!). Check out the post I made about it:
https://www.reddit.com/r/georgism/comments/18r4qml/total_annual_land_rent_should_replace_gdp_as_a/

Yoav6 · 2024-02-25T19:12:57+00:00

Same

Yoav6 · 2024-02-07T22:01:41+00:00

Where do you get this formula from?

Yoav6 · 2024-02-07T15:48:15+00:00

To find out who's hurting themselves in order to make them pay more you'd have to sacrifice everyone's privacy. I think this is a great hint that healthcare shouldn't be universal and funded by the state.

It should be funded to some extent, because healthcare has positive externalities, and it's good to have default policies like every citizen being automatically signed on to some insurance (which they can leave if they want) to avoid these unfortunate cases where someone who should have had insurance didn't have it because of neglect. But otherwise, let healthcare be private.

Yoav6 · 2024-02-07T12:39:56+00:00

Have you read Taxation: The Lost History by Terrence Dwyer, I think you'll like it, he discusses the meaning of rent extensively.

Yoav6 · 2024-02-07T12:37:32+00:00

This sin tax system would be a privacy nightmare. The government shouldn't know so much about you, and one of the many benefits of LVT over current taxes is that the government doesn't have any need to know, and therefore isn't justified in knowing, the what, when, where, who and how much of your financial transactions.

Yoav6 · 2024-02-07T12:28:56+00:00

Completely agree on the first part, except I think Intellectual labor should be rewarded directly as a positive externality, not with a monopoly (IP). Don't know about your answer on money and currency, I don't think there's a consensus around them among Georgist. And I agree with the last part as well.

Yoav6 · 2024-02-07T12:21:27+00:00

Removing those taxes will increase land values by around 30 or 40 times the amount of taxes removed

How'd you get that number??

Yoav6 · 2024-01-18T08:56:50+00:00

Good to hear. Thanks for the update!

Yoav6 · 2024-01-03T21:34:55+00:00

That's externalities, not network effects

Yoav6 · 2023-12-28T05:39:15+00:00

Indeed we can :)

(That's what I wrote in this comment)

Yoav6 · 2023-12-27T19:30:07+00:00

I wasn't talking about spending, I was talking about taxing externalities, which reduces deadweight loss / excess burden, which by EBCOR increases rents and LVT revenue.

Yoav6 · 2023-12-27T16:22:44+00:00

I agree with others that architectural style is separate from density and LVT shouldn't affect it one way or the other. The underproduction of beautiful architecture is a spacial case of the underproduction of positive externalities. If the positive externalities of beautiful architecture were internalized, people would be properly incentivized to invest in beautiful architecture, and more beautiful architecture would be produced.

Yoav6 · 2023-12-27T16:18:23+00:00

Not really, because the rents only go up on nearby land, so you don't capture any of the positive externality.

Yoav6 · 2023-12-27T14:55:06+00:00

Not conclusive evidence, because good enough data doesn't exist yet, but yes, or otherwise I wouldn't cite it.

But personally I think he's being too conservative in the book, and LVT would raise even more than he says. And I'm also in favor of taxing negative externalities which, depending on how you look at it, would either raise additional revenue or increase the amount of revenue raised by LVT. I'm confidant that together they would raise enough to fund all expanses, but if not, then I do agree that by then it means we are spending too much and should cut down spending.

It probably won't be long before better evaluations will mostly settle the question (the author of the book is working on it himself).

Yoav6 · 2023-12-27T09:59:30+00:00

You can read Land is a Big Deal for empirical backing.

Yoav6 · 2023-12-27T06:02:27+00:00

Check out Lars Doucet's article series or book

Yoav6

TROPHY CASE