Reply #19: Nothing would make it more palatable [View All]

[dcfirefighter]

it keeps them out of work, and keeps labor at a distadvantage - keeping working people (95% of families) from being able to demand higher wages and better working conditions. It keeps them from having an alternative to corporate employment - they could be self-employed.

SS is the backbone of many people's retirements - precisely because people cannot earn the wages they deserve in the first place. Regardless, I'm not advocating getting rid of it, merely paying for it some other way. A decent minimum wage would do nothing but exacerbate the flow of jobs to overseas countries. Build demand, don't fix prices.

You've got the right idea with grazing, lumber, i'd also suggest broadcast rights, mining rights, drilling rights, water rights, certain patents, utility monopoly rights, various licenses, fishing harvests, as well as de facto pollution rights.

As for the value of land value taxes: ever hear of the real estate bubble? What do you think all the land in the US is worth? $60T? How much do you think this would rent for? 5%? How would $3T compare to the federal budget? How much more would land be worth in a town that had no sales tax v. one with a sales tax? How about a payroll tax, or an income tax? Quite a bit more. It's likely that removing $2T worth of harmful tax would likely raise land rents by exactly that much, if not more. Raising enough money would not be a problem.

As for the municipal and county level - I agree, and this is why I suggest a land value tax. Many states grant their localities the right to set property tax rates, including the possibility of setting the land rate higher than the improvements rate. Legislating minimum wages above local minimums only works when there is no alternative for potential employers - and there is almost always an alternative, either the next town, the next state, or the next country. Conversely, there is no alternative for paying for land: potential employers must pay for land no matter where it is, and a land value tax DECREASES the cost to the employer - and shifts the payment from the landowner to the public.