 Tax Reform Most people agree that SOME sort of tax reform is needed. The question, of course, is what sort of reform is best. I found the following quote on someone's signature. I think it's a good starting point for this discussion. Quote:
We need true tax reform that will at least make a start toward restoring for our children the American Dream that wealth is denied to no one, that each individual has the right to fly as high as his strength and ability will take him. . . . But we cannot have such reform while our tax policy is engineered by people who view the tax as a means of achieving changes in our social structure.
Ronald Reagan
| This is exactly why I'm in favor of the (gradual) replacement of ALL taxes with a single tax on the value of land (exempting all improvements) following the political thought of Adam Smith, Henry George, Winston Churchill, and Tom Pain. The logic of this comes from the economic fact that the value attached to land (more properly, "location") is not created by the owner of that land but by the labors of those within the localized area. Thus, justice is best served if the value of that land is redistributed to the rightful owners as closely as possible. So, I would propose that a stiff land tax be installed with the proceeds being returned to the citizens of the given region in the form of a "citizen's dividend" (exactly like oil proceeds in Alaska). A small portion of this tax could be used to finance the state. In my mind, the ideal state is a minimum state. Once the land tax is in place the laborer would again collect the full fruit of his labor and would be free "to fly as high as his strength and ability will take him". As long as our economy/tax system is engineered to take from labor and capital what is rightfully the private property of the laborer or capitalist we will not see true reform.
Last edited by Trevor; 02-01-2007 at 03:54 PM.
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