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The land story behind inflation (stagflation) that so many fail to see..

Updated: Oct 12

If you’ve been following my work for a while, you’ll know that I happen to think, that the only good tax in a modern economy (if we must call it a tax), is a land tax - noting that land applies to all natural elements that can be enclosed and monopolised.


This includes the electromagnetic field – the property of space – that enables communication systems, like land, to be dominated and controlled by a select few, thereby influencing access and cost for the average joe.


The rest of taxation – in my opinion – which falls on income and productivity, is robbery.


The rationale behind land taxes and why economists have favoured them over any other form of taxation, through centuries (and continue to do so,) was popularised by the illustrious 19th-century economist and social reformer, Henry George (1839-1897).


If you've been following me for a while, you'll already know about Henry George. He was an impressive individual.

 

George wasn’t just concerned about land economics, either.

 

He fought passionately for monetary reform and rebelled against education systems that taught otherwise!

 

George believed the system of money and wealth concentrated power in the hands of a few, ultimately producing the land cycle of boom and bust (as we see it operating today.)

 


Source: Henry George "Beneath the Silver Question" The Sterling Library, April 1894


You see, to George, land tax – which stripped speculation from the market - was a powerful tool for addressing all these societal inequalities!


But - in doing so – he saw other forms of taxation that fall on labour income and productivity as regressive and unlawful.   


Think of it this way – in George’s world, taxes would be levied on what you don’t earn (monopoly rents) – not from what you do earn from your own personal activity and enterprise (earnings and productivity!)


Hence why Renowned economist Milton Friedman famously referred to land taxes as the "only good tax."

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