Past Crises, The Current Crisis, Future Crises: It starts with Land.
Where did our current crisis start? I most often concentrate on writing about news, views and findings in the world of land value taxation with implementation at the state, county or municipal level. We believe that some of the most exciting things are happening there. But, there is a bigger world, of course, and at times we have to stop, drop and roll when that bigger world drops some very nasty bombs on struggling communities.
Let’s look at the twin bugbears that have combined to make life hard for us, as a people and a community.
Bad tax policy, combined with the gifts of monopoly and privilege from our tax codes have led to an impoverishment of our governments and a drain on essential services, while ever increasing the burdens on those that strive, save, work and produce.
From my seat in Pennsylvania, there is the spectacle of a governor and legislature swerving from panacea to nostrum in order to
- Solve an annual budget crisis and
- Not "raise our taxes."
49 other states have a version of this game, along with its Federal government. Nearly every other nation on earth suffers the same malaise. It’s as old as the history, law, money and humanity.
Some people thought they’d like to contribute to this issue with their take on how the granting of monopoly and privilege has led to our problems today.
So, let's have special diary entries on land, privilege and monopoly.
More to come.
"Land monopoly is not the only monopoly, but it is by far the greatest of monopolies -- it is a perpetual monopoly, and it is the mother of all other forms of monopoly."
Winston Churchill in the House of Commons May 1909.