While I am by no means a progressive, I am a confirmed Georgist. His concepts should be the basis of a just society.
Most of us agree that we need government, and that someone has to pay for it. We debate about how large that government should be and how it should be funded. George’s concept of a land use tax provide solutions to both these problems.
What gives land its value? Why is an acre of land on Manhattan Island worth thousands of time that of land in the Nevada desert? The difference in value is due solely to social institutions. Since society creates this value, society is entitled to the rent on this land, which in normal circumstances is adequate to pay for the necessary institutions of government. An individual is free to use as much land as he wants for his purposes, as long as he will pay the land’s rent. What could be fairer?
Then, we can eliminate income tax. A tax on income makes free men into slaves. We can also eliminate tax on capital, because this is an indirect tax on income.
Why has such a beneficial system not been universally adopted? The wealthy spend a great deal of money buying political parties, so that they do not have to pay rent on the land they control.
Your comments and pseudonym are in conflict.
They’re virtually the same. Georgism is a pillar of progressivism. Liberty does not fall from that tree.
George did not have one idea, the “single tax”, he had plenty of ideas. Like the nationalization of land, inch by inch.