Taxing the land

A hundred and thirty years ago, the American economist Henry George wrote a famous tract called “Progress and Poverty”. It argued that all natural resources, including land, are a gift of nature. Any private person owning them is only entitled to be compensated for the effort he has put in with his labour and capital to raise its productivity. Any increase in value that comes not from any effort of the owner, but from some other factor like infrastructure development or policy changes by the government, should not accrue to the owner.

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