Progress & Poverty part 3

[africkinamerican]

Hi!

HGS Chicago student. Watching now. My only comment right now is: A LITTLE government is a good thing. I think part of the genius of George's plan (public rent collection and no other taxes) is that it helps us right-size and decentralize government. In a more prosperous economy, many federal/state functions (e.g., welfare, "grants") would be exposed as redundant. The common sense of shifting all functions affecting purely local interests to local governments would become obvious.

[ourearthhome]

@africkinamerican You have this correct. Big government would shrink and power would return to local governments. Local communities would become self sufficient in a way not possible without using the locally community created value of land as THE main source of revenue to pay for local government. The "relocalization" movement is beginning to catch onto this. A community cannot ever really relocalize if it depends on tax revenues and subsidies from non-local sources.

[jbryant13]

I'm confused by this part - if you have "title" to the land (for how long?) and you are paying "rent" to the government - who "owns" the land ?

[ourearthhome]

The title holder remains the owner and continues to have certain rights and obligations. Title holders can use, get loans against he property, rent the property and sell it. At the same time they are responsible for paying property taxes and any other assessments communities have against the property. I am suggesting that property owners be responsible only for paying taxes on their land value and not on the value of their improvements. Not really much different than the current situation.