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January Digest J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 0 , V O L . 4 RSF DIGEST N E W S L E T T E R O F T H E R O B E R T S C H A L K E N B A C H F O U N D A T I O N WHAT'S INSIDE? GEARING UP FOR A NEW DECADE 2 CALLING ALL AUTHORS! 2 DIRECTORS' PERSPECTIVES 3 FEATURED PROJECTS 4 The Robert Schalkenbach Foundation (RSF) is a private operating foundation, founded in 1925, to promote public awareness of the social philosophy and economic reforms advocated by famed 19th century thinker and activist, Henry George. Today, RSF remains true to its founding doctrine, and through efforts focused on education, communities, outreach, and publishing, works to create a world in which all people are afforded the basic necessities of life and the natural world is protected for generations to come. _________________ It is uite true that unearned increments in land are not the only form of unearned or undeserved proit which individuals are able to secure; but it is the principal form of unearned increment which is derived from processes which are not merely not beneicial, but which are positively Sir Winston Churchill detrimental to the general public. - Winston Churchill Unearned Increment (noun): an increase in the value of property or land through no effort of the owner P A G E 1 NEW UNDERTAKINGS, NEW STAFF B Y J O S I E F A A S S , E X E C U T I V E D I R E C T O R It's a new year, and there are new really happen if their city or town things in the works at RSF! More embraced LVT. specifically, we've welcomed some new faces to our team - which in my As we embrace the new year and opinion, is the best way possible to be forward-looking projects, we are also starting off this new year and new focused on leveraging the Foundation's decade. past work. Making sure that RSF's roughly 100 years worth of documents Much of what we focus on has an and other materials are properly important spatial component. Land cataloged and easily accessible is key to Value Tax (LVT), for example, is all enabling everything we'll do this year, about identifying the portion of land's and in all the years to come. To this end, value that originates, not from the RSF is pleased to welcome Sanjida actions or investments of the owners, The holidays were great - now it's Sadeque to the staff as our new Office but from the publicly-provided full speed ahead! Organizer. benefits (like schools, safety, and infrastructure) its owners enjoy as a preliminary work to create an online Sanjida comes to us with a background result of their exclusive access to said mapping interface, which will give users in chemistry and plans to study land. Recapturing that unearned the ability to manipulate tax rates information sciences, and will be increment and using it to fund the (ranging from current scenarios to full working in our Manhattan office for the very public goods that create that LVT with two-rate options in between) next few months under the direction of enhanced value generates stable to see exactly how tax burdens fall our Operations and Finance Manager public revenues and deters both urban across parcels under the various Gail Lambert. sprawl and land speculation, while scenarios. This is a complex helping to ensure land is put to its undertaking, but ultimately we expect it As I've said before, RSF is small but highest and best use. to yield a tool suitable for inclusion on mighty. Even with these new the RSF and CPTR websites, and a way to (temporary) additions, you can still We believe that LVT is an all around explain the concept with clarity when count our staff on one hand, but that winning proposition, and clearly, the alking with curious, or even skeptical, doesn't slow us down! physical nature of land is a core local officials or community group element. But of course, LVT representatives about what would represents a departure from the status quo - a reshuffling of tax burdens, with some Calling All Authors! land uses and owners seeing lower tax bills as a result and others seeing Want to write a piece examining a current issue through a Georgist increases. Since lens? Great! We'd love to publish your work on our website and in our efforts through the Center for Property Tax this newsletter. Reform are all about working with Anyone who can write critically about today's world in a way communities - full of Who: that reflects the ideas of Henry George. real neighborhoods, people, and businesses - the importance of correctly identifying these What: "winners" and Blog posts for our website and this newsletter. "losers" cannot be overstated. Recognizing the truth When: Anytime and all the time - we're always looking in the old adage "a for authors. picture is worth a thousand words, RSF has hired Kevin Frech Check out "Blog Author Information" on our as an intern from Where: website for full details. Temple University's Geographic Information Systems (GIS) program to serve as our Full-Stack Geospatial Analyst. In this role, Kevin will do the P A G E 2 DIRECTORS' PERSPECTIVES W H E R E T H E R S F B O A R D E X P L O R E S C U R R E N T A P P L I C A T I O N S A N D I M P L I C A T I O N S O F H E N R Y G E O R G E ' S T E A C H I N G S . WHAT'S SO SPECIAL ABOUT HENRY GEORGE ANYWAY? B Y F R A N K D E J O N G The many organizations around the world that work to popularize the work of nineteenth-century American economist Henry George have three Henry George making a speech as aprt of his mayoral campaign in 1897. goals: a just society, a green society, and a prosperous society. Collectively, these organizations constitute an interconnected think tank advocating Herman Daly. financing governments by collecting In his seminal book, Progress and baffled, and I had no good response “economic rent” in lieu of taxes on beyond muttering something about jobs, business and goods, and services. Poverty (1879), Henry George builds on the work of Adam Smith, David Ricardo, wasteful downtown surface parking lots. Economic rent refers to revenue and John Stuart Mill, enumerating the multiple benefits to the economy and “But then everything will go condo, and without a corresponding cost of where will all the poor people go?” he production, such as the societal society when governments are financed by capturing economic rent. asked. surplus, or superprofits, that flow to monopoly-held assets like land, Taxing incomes makes people more When explaining the advantages of land resources (oil, copper, trees, water, value taxation, proponents encounter a etc.), the privilege to pollute, the expensive to... (cont'd on pg. 5) familiar set of counterarguments such electromagnetic spectrum, (includes as: all radio waves e.g., commercial radio How can the system be affordable for and television, microwaves, radar), SOLVING THE land rich but cash poor citizens? agricultural supply management What will happen to the farmers who quotas, drug patents, taxi medallions, "AFFORDABLE really work the land? et cetera. Aren’t accurate assessments HOUSING" impossible? (con't on pg. 6) Though this wealth rightfully belongs to the community, it presently flows PROBLEM WITH mostly untaxed to private asset owners, forcing governments to LAND VALUE finance programs by employing TAXES economy-damaging taxes on profits, HG Trivia incomes, and sales. B Y M A T T L E I C H T E R Contemporary accounts This economic theory, often called state that 100,000 mourners land value taxation (LVT), is supported by classical economists “But then all real estate would go to its squeezed inside Grand Adam Smith, David Ricardo, John highest and best use,” the man Central Palace for George's Stuart Mill, and Henry George, by complained. memorial, while another prominent people like Winston 100,000 stood outside for Churchill, Dr. Sun Yet-Sen, Mark “Yes! Yes!” I replied. “That’s the point. Twain, and George Monbiot, and by That’s good.” lack of space. modern economists Joseph Stiglitz, Milton Friedman, Michael Hudson, and The man was trying very hard to understand my position but seemed R S F D I G E S T P A G E 3 WHAT DO YOU income wage earners, despite the argue that tax flight and avoidance can progressive graduated income-tax rates. be dealt with by taxing companies KNOW ABOUT One third of all taxes is paid to state and headquartered in the United States on local governments, and sales taxes are their less-taxed income abroad. The TAXES? WRONG! especially regressive, taxing the poor United States could also tax foreign proportionately higher. Lower-income companies’ sales in the United States. B Y F R E D F O L D V A R Y families also pay substantial amounts of payroll taxes. But such analysis overlooks the theory of optimal public finance. One foundation Two economists at the University of Saez and Zucman helped to craft of economic analysis is the “law of California at Berkeley, Emmanuel Saez presidential candidate Elizabeth demand.” Higher costs and lower gains and Gabriel Zucman, have written a Warren’s proposed tax on wealth.
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