https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aX5gzRnUfSw Francis K. Peddle, J.D., Ph.D., is currently Vice-President -- Academic Affairs at the Dominican University College, Ottawa, Canada and an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Philosophy. He is a barrister and solicitor and has been a member of the Law Society of Upper Canada for over twenty years.
The Generalized Henry George Principle:
One of the general principles of taxation is that one should tax factors that are inelastic in supply, since there are no adverse supply side effects. Land does not disappear when it is taxed. Henry George, a great progressive of the late nineteenth century, argued, partly on this basis, for a land tax. It is ironic that rather than following this dictum, the United States has been doing just the opposite through its preferential treatment of capital gains.
Henry George was a 19th century American economist. He began with the ethical premise that all people have an equal right to the use of the earth. From that he concluded that exclusive private ownership of land (natural resources) creates unwarranted special privileges. Furthermore, he observed that holding land out of production drives down real wages and the returns to capital equipment. This process is further exacerbated by taxes on production and income that:
•increase unemployment
•discourage productive investment
•encourage unproductive land speculation and rent-seeking
