LVT Is Right, Georgism Is Wrong
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I support a Land Value Tax.
After all, I’ve created one of the most popular videos on the subject, but I’m not a Georgist because unlike Henry George I don’t believe in a single 100% LVT.
Why not 1 tax?
The advantages which would be gained by substituting for the numerous taxes by which the public revenues are now raised, a single tax levied upon the value of land, will appear more and more important the more they are considered. This is the secret which would transform the little village into the great city. — Henry George
Georgists support LVT because it discourages land speculation, but then why not also support taxes on other rent-seeking behaviors like dollar speculation? After all, inflation is a tax. If we removed all inflation (i.e. fixed the supply of money) then people would hoard money much like land.
Georgists support LVT because it disproportionally taxes the rich, but then why not have a progressive income tax on the top 10% of earners because otherwise they could avoid all taxation by opting out of owning American land for storing their wealth in art, commodities, stocks, patents, foreign land, etc.?
Georgists support LVT because it incentivizes a more efficient use of land, but then why not also tax things to incentivize a more efficient use of our natural and artificial resources such as by disproportionally taxing things with high negative externalities like smoking, alcohol, sugar, waste, and pollution?
Georgists support LVT because it incentivizes economic development, but then why not also support an import tax to disincentivize companies from offshoring it?
Georgists support LVT because they feel it’s only fair people pay for using a public good, which they consider land to be, but what about public transportation, public utilities, and corporations (a corporation is basically just a business with a public liability insurance option so why shouldn’t its owners pay for its costs)?
I support lower overall taxes (max 30% of GDP), but to rely on one tax for all levels of…
