The Efficiency of a Modern Land Commons

Land is social wealth. It was not created by labor, we all require land to live and everyone should have full and equal rights to space on this earth. Those full and equal rights can be obtained by a simple, yet profound, change in residual-feudal exclusive land titles-society should collect the landrent. A nation's landrent, currently collected by subtle land monopolists under laws of their own design, is adequate to pay all normal costs of government.[g]With that simple change, residual-feudal exclusive land monopolization and sales and income taxes disappear.[h]

With society collecting the landrent, the price of land drops to zero while its use-value is retained and actually increases. The payment of that landrent is, at first look, only slightly less costly than purchasing that land under the current residual-feudal exclusive titles. But a second look takes into consideration the elimination of all other taxes which, on balance, returns the price of land to zero. All would then have access to land at no net cost due to landrent replacing all other taxes.

That tax cannot be evaded and the collection system is already in place. Each person or business would then pay their share of the costs of government. All will have access to land for a home and true producers would be able to start a business with only the capital necessary to buy buildings, machinery, and inventory. These are easy to finance while the purchasing of subtly-monopolized land is very difficult to finance.

Most talented accountants, federal tax agents, a substantial number of lawyers, their support staff, as well as all who built and serviced their offices and equipment would now be available for productive work. Product prices would drop as sales and income taxes and their accounting costs disappear. All this would be gained with no increase in costs to the true producer (subtle monopolists are-without realizing it-interceptors of wealth, not true producers). Landrent taxes would be paid out of cash flow instead of being deducted from net income. Society's collecting of the landrent is a bargain for hard working and talented productive people.

With subtle monopolization eliminated, the most efficient farmers can pay the highest landrent, so the most efficient farmers will own their farms. The most efficient industries will own their required land because they can pay the highest landrent. The most efficient businesses will own their required land because they too can pay the greater landrent. And all citizens will have rights to the land under their homes at no initial cost and, again considering the elimination of sales and income taxes, no net cost. The annual landrent cost will appear only slightly smaller than subtle-monopoly rent but it is fully offset by other taxes disappearing so it is far cheaper:

Oil, copper, iron ore, and the like, while still in the ground, are land and can very properly be privately owned so long as society is paid the landrent. The world has adequate reserves of most of these minerals. It is only richer deposits and cheaper labor in developing world countries that make their minerals more available. Under Adam Smith unequal free market philosophy, the developed world's more expensive deposits are not mined until the undeveloped world's cheap deposits are exhausted. Ecological taxes or surcharges on rich mineral deposits to equalize production costs between developed regions with their expensive mineral deposits and the developing world and their cheap minerals ... is really landrent.[9]

Landowners invested their money honestly and they should not be forced to shoulder the cost of a change in tax structure which changes residual-feudal exclusive property rights and thus changes monetized values. Homeowners and business will be instantly compensated through the elimination of other taxes. Farmers, large landowners, landlords, and others only partially compensated can be made whole through bonds up to the value of their loss. Retirement funds would expand to compensate retirees.

Buying power is badly needed in a depression. Bonds could then be issued to compensate for the loss of residual-feudal exclusive property rights.