It’s bad not to have a land tax

It is good if rich people are encouraged to give away their land.


If someone has an excess of natural property to the detriment of others than a land tax will encourage them to give up some of their land. If we can avoid having to pay a tax by giving our land to those who need it we are encouraged to be generous.

A Land Value Tax would make it more difficult to own an excess of land

Without a Land Value Tax or something similar to it, there is a risk that the land might become consolidated in the hands of fewer and fewer people.

The government is the owner of the land

The only legitimate function of a government is to allocate land rights, which can be done by seizing the land from those with an excess. But this type of action is not the action of a government which seeks to act in the place of the populace, to seize land is adversarial. It (such an agency) would need to be a defensive agency reclaiming land.

The government should share the land with the people

There is a level (of excessive land ownership) beyond which land ownership becomes illegitimate. If our land ownership is excessive this means that others are not able to live independently (and feed themselves) which violates the categorical imperative. It is not best for everyone if some own an excess, whereas it is best if we all recognise personal property. If the categorical imperative is violated in this way it means that the justification to own the land becomes invalid, so there is an upper bound for land ownership and we cannot rightfully own land above a certain upper bound. Land is able to be owned (with universal utility) only up to an upper limit. We cannot own an excess of land. Not any amount of land can be legitimately owned.

The land must be shared to maximise its utility.

It is the government which allocates land rights

The government is what owns the land. Everything which is not constructed by a person is ‘owned’ and allocated according to the collective. The land is owned by the government. If we do not have sufficient access to the land it is the government which is at fault, since they allocate land rights.

No one should suffer for want of land

There should be no one who suffers for want of land.

Land is a common good. It cannot fairly be owned privately since it has been created by no one living. It was here before any of us. Since land is a public good no one can own it. We should make efforts to ensure that everyone is able to benefit from the existence of the earth, by providing everyone with access to it. No one should be excluded from the land.

A share of the land should be free to use for everyone. No one should be landless. Everyone should have access to a piece of the land. No one has a right to take more than their fair share of the land.

It doesn’t make sense for landless people to support the state

If you are poor and don’t like the landlord class then don’t pay for their property to be defended by the police.

One of the main functions of the police is to protect the landlords. By paying taxes to the government we maintain existing support for the rentier class, which often relies upon the state. It makes sense for (landless) people to withdraw their support from a system which does not provide them with sufficient property rights.