• half@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I do not propose either to purchase or to confiscate private property in land. The first would be unjust; the second, needless. Let the individuals who now hold it still retain, if they want to, possession of what they are pleased to call their land. Let them continue to call it their land. Let them buy and sell, and bequeath and devise it. We may safely leave them the shell, if we take the kernel. It is not necessary to confiscate land; it is only necessary to confiscate rent.
    ──Henry George, Progress and Poverty

    • SCB@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      You seem to think I am unfamiliar with Henry George and I assure you that is quite untrue. I am all about LVTs, political dead-ends though they may be.

      However, I am informed enough to know an LVT is inherently progressive.

      • half@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        I think you’re talking about the poltiical philosophy of progressivism as opposed to progressive tax, especially progressive income tax.

        • SCB@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          No, I am definitely not.

          A progressive tax is a tax in which the tax rate increases as the taxable amount increases.

          A land value tax is a progressive tax, in that the tax burden falls on land owners, because land ownership is correlated with wealth and income

          Source: literally any discussion about progressive taxation and Georgism

          I am not a Progressive arguing in favor of Progressivism. I am loosely a “third way” neoliberal with Georgist tendencies (also in favor of Pigouvian taxation, etc), arguing that words have actual meanings.

          • HandwovenConsensus@lemm.ee
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            1 year ago

            I’m confused. By tax rate, you must mean the percentage of the taxable amount.

            In that case, land ownership being correlated with wealth and income isn’t sufficient to prove that LVT is progressive.

            Consumption spending also correlates with wealth and income, but a sales tax is usually considered regressive.

            So it’s possible that the LVT can be progressive, but only if the percentage of wealth spent on land rises with income. I don’t know if that’s true or not, but what is your basis for believing it is?

              • HandwovenConsensus@lemm.ee
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                1 year ago

                I’m not the person you’ve been talking to, by the way.

                I’m just asking you to explain your logic, or the logic of the entire economic community if that’s what it is. If you’re so certain that what you’re saying is true, it shouldn’t be that hard to explain the logic behind such a conclusion.

          • half@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            That’s like saying that a flat income tax is a progressive tax because some people have more income.

            • SCB@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              Thats nonsensical. A flat income tax is, by definition, non-progressive. The rate does not increase.

              LVTs tax you on the unimproved value of land and some land is inherently more valuable than others. If you can afford said land, you pay more in taxes.

              Unimproved land having differing value is rather a core component of Georgism