I know Georgists support land taxes (or community collection of rent, if you prefer) to fund services. That is one of my central points of disagreement.
Ideally, taxes should be eliminated altogether. Every service should be funded by those who use it, with user-fees assessed pro rata according to the real cost imposed on the system. By funding services out of general revenue, we break the market price system's feedback link that tells the consumer the real cost of what he consumes, and lets him adjust his level of consumption on the basis of the price signal. I suspect that there are very few (if any) true "public goods," that cannot be "internalized" and paid for entirely by those who use them. >From: "Pinczewski-Lee, Joe (LRC)" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >"Government can reduce unemployment without losing tax revenue by shifting >taxation to sources that do not make labor more costly or that reduce >investment incentives. The prime source that can be tapped is land value. >If the state taxes land value rather than labor, you will see a major >reduction in unemployment."-The question that comes to mind is, "Would a >tax >on the value of land SUPPORT government?" I realize that to many >Libertarians this is either: a) a non-question or b) heresy, but I would >ask >that question any way. In many states and localities, the property tax is >considered insufficient to fund governmental operations. _________________________________________________________________ Chat with friends online, try MSN Messenger: http://messenger.msn.com
