Opinion of Georgism

[Antonio the Sixth]

The problem is that I guess it's at least theoretically possible to be very wealthy and not own much land. So, while such a tax might be more progressive than a sales tax or a poorly designed income tax, it is still far from perfect.

The underlying idea behind it seems to be that land is the only real common good, meaning that everything else ought to be left to private initiatives. Instead, I think there are much more goods and services which should be equally distributed between citizens regardless of economic capabilities or personal merit (health, education, etc). Therefore, other forms of taxes (on income or anything else) can easily be seen as a price to pay to the collectivity in exchange for the provision of such public good (just as land tax is seen as a way to pay for the occupation of public land).

[Antonio the Sixth]

I'm not saying such a tax system would be particularly bad or would be less preferable than the current one. I certainly agree that heavily taxing land is fair and I think I understand why it would be more economically effective. I just don't think that, as a Social-Democrat, this would be enough to achieve the kind of society I would like. Even if it's a progressive form of taxation, I don't think it would be sufficient to reduce and durably contain inequalities as I think taxation should. Wealth in general, and not only land, should be significantly taxed so that those who are rich through immaterial belongings also pay their fair share. And income taxation, despite its flaws, ought to be preserved for the sake of preventing its accumulation.