Value of land: 100% created by the community Part 6

Part 6. Wendell Fitzgerald with Peter Melton examine the little known fact that all land value is created by society as a whole, not individual landowners, and that private ownership and collection of this community created value constitutes an unearned free gift to landowners at the expense of all society and a special injustice to all non-landowners, i.e. renters, and now, more than ever, the homeless. A shift of property taxes from a tax on improvements and land value to a tax on land value only as suggested by the 19th century economist, Henry George, would begin to solve this most fundamental of flaws in so-called capitalist/free market theory and practice. Wendell is a long time member of the Henry George School of San Francisco. HenryGeorgeSF.org. Produced by DanShaw.com.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Henry
• George
• School
• economics
• progress
• poverty

[orwellington]

ok.. you've been saying the same thing now for all your presentations... show us how it will work in practice !?! e.g. I rent a piece of land for $x per year and spend €1m building a house on it with my capital earned from my labour, then my rent goes up!?! because I made the 'land' worth more because it now has a fantactic house on it that more people want (i.e. my land)...

I ADD value to the land and pay more rent, is that right ?

[ourearthhome]

I do blather on don't I?

What you as a user or owner of land do by way of building an improvement does not of itself increase the value of your particular piece of land. By building your improvement you have merely actualized the potential productivity of the land. The land value and its rent in the market stay the same. What you can earn by use of rent of your improvement is what increases. The market/rental value of your land will only increase if the entire community improves.

[happyinnanaimo]

Henry George's ideas are so relevant to the current economic situation. Why are they so unknown?

[ourearthhome]

Thanks for the comment. They are waiting in humanity's huge bag of unmanifested blessings to become manifest when the time is right. In the mean time I celebrate knowing that any time humanity wants to have the planet work for the benefit of everyone we can have it. Guaranteed.

[grumbleandgruntmeans]

THAT is what privatisation of the economic from land means, in simple terms, in the real world.

SOMEONE is paying for that value (the developer who built the hotel; the hotel group who pay for the lease; society who funded the infrastructure; the customers who pay around 50% of the price of a room straigh to the land owner).

The govt created the potential for the increase in value (planning permission) and society delivered it. But the land owner takes all the profits. Is that fair?

[grumbleandgruntmeans]

...New roads were require to serve this leisure park, along with street lighting, drainage, public transport facilities etc. These were paid for by the govt out of the taxes (income, corporation, stealth) paid by society.

The land owner (in this instance) has done NOTHING to contribute to economic activity, or the increase in his/her land value. Yet their investment (£5k/acre) yields 1600% per YEAR, for the 125 year duration of the lease. PLUS a capital gain of 20,000-24,000%.

[grumbleandgruntmeans]

Orwellington: Here's a real life example. The freehold interest for 2.5 acres near me is up for auction, guide price £2.5 - £3m. On the land sits a Holiday Inn, built and paid for by that company. The land is on an out-of-town leisure park. The ground rent payable to the freeholder is £202k per annum.

Now, that land, prior to planning permission being granted by the Council, was amenity land, worth £5k an acre, max...

[CreatorChannel]

This makes total sense to me.. and I am going to utilise this model in a community I am developing.