Answers, Answers
AnswersAnswers.com is a serious attempt to end poverty by:
1. highlighting the solution favored by most great thinkers: LVT
2. giving LVT a solid logical foundation
3. showing examples of LVT in practice in the real world
4. suggesting a strategy that will overcome objections to LVT
The objective of this web site is to put LVT on the political agenda.
1. LVT is the solution favored by most great thinkers
To fix the world we need to go to the foundation of the economy: land ownership, and make it perfectly fair. The solution is Land Value Taxation (LVT). The web site will go into more detail, but here are a few quotes:
"I have made speeches by the yard on the subject of land value taxation, and you know what a supporter I am of that policy." - Winston Churchill
Henry George, in his classic 'Progress and Poverty,' showed how Land Value Taxation solves the problem of poverty.
"Men did not make the earth ... it is the value of the improvement only, and not the earth itself, that is individual property... Every proprietor owes to the community a ground rent for the land which he holds... from this ground-rent ... I ... propose ... to create a National Fund, out of which there shall be paid to every person ... (a) sum." - Thomas Paine, Agrarian Justice, 1795-6
"People do not argue with the teachings of George, they simply do not know it. And it is impossible to do otherwise with his teaching, for he who becomes acquainted with it cannot but agree.” - Leo Tolstoy
Or, put more simply:
"Land should be taxed as much as possible and improvements as little as possible." - Milton Friedman
This web site will have numerous example of land rent in the real world, and also examples of where it could have changed history if only the politicians had listened to the economists. Here's just one example, from Fred Foldvary:
2. A solid logical foundation
Economists tend to look at Land Value Taxation only as it applies to existing economic models. Non-economists tend to approach it from the gut feeling of fairness, that everyone somehow deserves equal shares of the world. But I believe that both approaches are flawed. The first is too narrow, the second is insufficiently logical. My own interest in LVT comes from an entirely different direction: its philosophical foundations. The unique contribution of this web site will be in demonstrating the philosophical beauty, the power and elegance of LVT as an economic and political concept.
3. Examples of LVT in the real world
In 1991, 30 economists, including three then Nobel-prize winners (one signer, William Vickrey, [pictured] winning the prize later), signed a letter to Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev advising him that “It is important that the rent of land be retained as a source of government revenue” (Tideman, 1991, p. 226). Had this prescription been heeded either by this last Soviet president or his Russian successor, along with secure and untaxed property rights to labor and investments, the massive capital flight and the financial crises in large part due to tax evasion in Russia may well have been avoided. Nevertheless, this letter demonstrates that rent-based public finance continues to have adherents among economists of diverse backgrounds.”
4. A strategy that will overcome all objections
Any idea as powerful as Land Value Taxation will have its critics. Some are valid criticisms, based on different approaches to LVT that have not been thought through. That is why the philosophical foundation is so important, so we can be clear about precisely what we mean. But perhaps the most serious criticism is that land owners would never accept their land being taxed. Land owners tend to be very powerful people! That is why LVT has never completely replaced other forms of taxation in the past.
Probably the most important contribution of this web site will be to resolve those concerns, and suggest a method of implementing land rent that would result in land owners profiting from LVT.
This is the key to success. Get the land owners on board, and the LVT will gain its own momentum and take over the world. But fail to convince land owners, and LVT will never happen.
This web site will go live in late 2010
I've been working on these ideas since 2000 (and the philosophical parts since the 1980s).What you see here is just a summary of what to expect when the site goes live.
Note that this is just a description. The real site will be far more user friendly.
-- Chris Tolworthy |
That's the plan. Will it end global poverty?
1. If all those thinkers are correct, then LVT would end global poverty if adopted.
2. If LVT has a solid logical foundation then it will attract new thinkers and hence be on the agenda for political think tanks.
3. If it really works in the real world, then its acceptance and publicity will snowball.
4. If former opponents (land owners) now see it as a way to make money, then nothing can stop them.
Everything depends on the strength of the ideas. LVT already has a strong history and numerous followers. The ideas just need a little buit more polish to push them into prime time. Ideas 2 and 4 are where this web site will make a unique contribution.
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The examples will form a blog that comments on the days news. If the site succeeds, and shows how LVT could improve every area of life, then the site will naturally attract publicity. Everything depends on the strength of the economic ideas.