Opportunity has a name: it's called land.
The
philosophy and economics of Henry George is simplicity itself. But
this does not mean it is in any way superficial; quite the contrary. It
begins with the simple proposition "I have a right to use land". Think
about it. Isn't that proposition as basic to life as "I have a right
to breathe"?
You might agree too that these are our
birthrights. They emanate from our nature as human beings so George
calls them natural rights. Because we are many our natural rights must
be equal rights. Now George argues that the equal right to use land
requires an adjustment to one of most basic institutions, private
property in land.
Not that the State should own land and lease it
out. Neither private property in land nor public ownership of land can
give equal rights in the use of land. Instead, if the market value of
the land we use was public revenue each of us would have equal rights in
private property. That is, it would not matter whether you owned a
mountain of iron ore or the most valuable block in the largest city, by
taking its land value (not improvements) its owner would be left with no
more land value than the householder on the fringes of the city or the
resident of the poorest country town.
Public
revenue from this annual value (its capitalised value is over $3
trillion in Australia) could replace all taxes upon our labour and our
expenditure.
If you think about it land value is only the
value of location. It comes from either nature or our community. For
example, a new motorway between two cities inevitably creates land
value. This value deserves to go to the community that made it.
George
follows Thomas Jefferson in calling for equal rights as the key to the
solution of social problems. You may be interested to help make equal
rights a reality. If you are please contact us. We welcome everyone
who is seeking social justice.
Richard Giles, Secretary
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