Political Theory

Re: so.... what is up with georgists?

JCFolsom — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 22:44:49 GMT

aestheticbend:
They think you can only own things that are a product your labour, land is not a product of your labour. Hence, while you may own the products of the earth, you don't own the earth.
Saying they hate landowners is just being blindly polemical.

Georgists, traditionally, are also known as single-taxers, that is, they believe that there ought be only one tax, a tax of the full value of land alone, NOT including the value of any structures and the like built on it. Thus, a landlord could make a profit off of the structures he builds and maintains on the land, but each bit of land he keeps outside of that active claim and use would reduce his profits. This creates an incentive not to claim any idle land, leaving more available to those who would claim it to actually use it, and eliminate the royal title idea that you can just claim a piece of land, do nothing with it, but then force others to pay you a rent to use it. There is no reason why merely seeing somewhere first ought to give you an eternal claim over all uses of that land. As noted, you did not create the value of that land, so you have no special claim to it.

For the anarchist, matters are a bit more complicated, because taxation is not a factor. However, it is also simpler, because there is no central authority that legitimizes title. People can only claim land by occupying and using it on a regular basis. No one may interfere with your activity, nor claim ownership over that to which you have contributed value, but for that which you are not using and that neither you nor any human agency has contributed value to, no one human claim is greater than another.

Re: so.... what is up with georgists?

Stranger — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 22:38:21 GMT

My encounters with georgists usually involve their repeatedly claiming that a land tax can solve every problem humanity has ever had. I once asked a georgist how the tax money was to be spent, and he simply replied that the land tax was the most fair system for taxation.

Verdict: cult

Re: so.... what is up with georgists?

aestheticbend — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 22:15:21 GMT

They think you can only own things that are a product your labour, land is not a product of your labour. Hence, while you may own the products of the earth, you don't own the earth.

Saying they hate landowners is just being blindly polemical.

I don't endorse this view, but this is their view.

Re: so.... what is up with georgists?

liberty student — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 22:12:37 GMT

Sphairon:

How can you effectively own anything if you're barred from owning the land you're standing on?

Georgian Paradox.

Re: so.... what is up with georgists?

Sphairon — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 21:44:48 GMT

How can you effectively own anything if you're barred from owning the land you're standing on?

so.... what is up with georgists?

nirgrahamUK — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 21:10:46 GMT

they hate landowners it seems. you can own other stuff apparently. but land is right out.