Video of the Day: Real Estate 4 Ransom

I discovered this video on a recent trip to Australia where I met with co-director Karl Fitzgerald, who is also the host of the excellent radio show, “The Renegade Economist”.

Explains the rationale of the land value tax proposals as a way to solve real estate speculation:

Real Estate 4 Ransom from Real Estate 4 Ransom on Vimeo.

Details:

“REAL ESTATE 4 RAN$OM outlines a genuine alternative to the global property speculation that forced so many into debt.

Doubling the pressure, the tax game has become just that, with tax havens a favoured option for the wealthy.

The result – we are taxing the wrong things, causing more problems whilst bankrupting once proud economies. A systemic change is essential if we are to avoid these damaging boom-bust-bailouts.

Co-Directors – Gavin Emmanuel (foregroundmedia.com/) & Karl Fitzgerald.”

1 Comment Video of the Day: Real Estate 4 Ransom

  1. AvatarPoor Richard

    The crux of this 40 minute video can be summarized in about 60 seconds. At 28:00: “Governments tend to auction off these resources at low, one-off prices in exchange for campaign funds.” At about 29:00 “…the tax system [should] not fall on labor and industry but taxes [should be] levied on what John Stuart Mill called the unearned increment–the rise in land value.” OK as far as it goes, but why should land value appreciation be taxed differently from other asset appreciation? And property taxes are great as long as exemptions prevent them from being confiscatory of middle and lower class assets. Subsistence assets should be exempt for the same reason we don’t tax subsistence income. Why should I be taxed for occupying and/or farming a few acres? I wouldn’t buy into any tax plan without such guarantees or without reliable data models for projecting long-term results. I don’t the producers of this video have offered such data. With those extensions and exceptions might I agree with making asset appreciation the primary target of taxation. Idl like to see a video that got to the point in the first 5 minutes and then addressed the other questions I raised.

Leave A Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.