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You can always reach the Georgist News at gn@progress.org
CONTENTS: (to return here just click the headline)
A May 15 press release from the Centre for Land Policy Studies announced the publication of a new book, "Dying for Justice" by George J. Miller, M.D. Dr. Miller, an epidemiologist, argues that true tax reform would do more than anything else to prevent tens of thousands of people from dying prematurely every year.
You can read all about it at:
The Progress Report:
www.progress.org/2003/revjust.htm
To order the book, contact:
Centre for Land Policy Studies, 7 Kings Road,
Teddington TW11 0QB, United Kingdom.
Email: metaman@compuserve.com
Steven Shafarman, president of the Citizen Policies Institute, has proposed a guaranteed basic income for all adult Iraqis. This "citizens dividend" could comfortably be funded by using a mere fraction of the natural resource royalties that Iraq receives each year for access to its oil.
See Shafarman's full proposal, published just a few days ago at:
Temporarily on a trip far from her Illinois headquarters, Sue Walton
nevertheless sends in this notice:
The deadline is fast approaching - 6/20! Hotel reservations must be
made by 6/13 to qualify for special rates. Questions: Call Sue or Scott
Walton at 888/262-9015
Details on the CGO conference can be found at
www.progress.org/cgo/conf03.html
plus you can register online if you wish.
GN Comments: Here is a great report from Wendy Rockwell, a Georgist
living in Costa Rica:
There are many political parties in Costa Rica. The president, Abel
Pacheco, and 19 deputies belong to the Partido Unidad Social Cristiano
(PUSC), 17 diputados are Partido Liberación National (PLN), 14 are in
Partido Acción Ciudadana (PAC), 8 are Partido Libertario, and one from
the democratic Christian Party. There are also various parties that only
function on the provincial level.
PUSC and PLN are the two parties that have been around the longest and are
pretty well entrenched. I was elected to the PAC Party. PAC is a new
party that has been around for less than three years. It was started by
Otón Solís. He has served as minister of planning and deputy to the
National Assembly in the PLN. He formed his own party because his
attempts to modernize the PLN were frustrated. His presidential campaign
was run on a code of ethics of austerity, transparency and citizen
participation.
The municipalities function on a county level, resulting in 82 municipal
governments nationwide. Eight districts within those counties have been
authorized to have their own municipal governments, due to geographic
isolation. One of those is the district of Monteverde in the province of
Puntarenas, where I was elected to the position of councilwoman. This is
the same Monteverde that was declared by National Geographic as one of the
ten most beautiful spots on earth.
I guess I have been surprised by the clout this position has given me and
the access to all sorts of high government officials. I have been talking
to all of them about LVT (land value taxation) and receiving positive
responses.
There is a political will to decentralize the Costarican power structure.
(The existence of political will is very important to get any thing done.)
In this effort the municipal governments were given the power to collect
property taxes. 25 mils across the board. In the law land and
improvements are lumped together as though one entity. As in most places
around the world most municipalities have outdated and incomplete cadastres.
Every citizen is entitled to an exemption on one property up to the value of
$17,500.
If the municipalities could collect land values, have their own source of
income and not be so dependent on the "political will" (which can be quite
arbitrary) of the central government, this would be a giant step in
accomplishing decentralization. It may also be instrumental in reducing
corruption.
One source of corruption is in the effort to provide housing to low income
families. Funds are allocated to buy land, that belonged to some
politician's nephew, that was actually unfit to build on. The housing was
dealt out to people who already own a house but are buddies, or voted for
someone on the commission that decided who was going to get the housing.
Nothing new there.
I welcome any comments, suggestions or questions.
GN Comments: You can reach Wendy Rockwell at
standley@racsa.co.cr
Property taxes remain in the news in South Africa, where the periodical
Business Day recently ran a story that featured Georgists. Here are
portions of that article:
The provision in the Property Rates Bill that the basis for municipal
rates across the country should be the improved value of properties came
under fire in parliamentary hearings.
Applying municipal rates to the improvements on a property was described
as being a partial expropriation of a portion of the value of improvements
of a property.
At least three submissions to the provincial and local government committee
suggested that the value of the site would be a better basis for municipal
rates.
Michael Jacques, of the School for Economic Science in Johannesburg, said
that basing municipal rates on the improvements on a property would achieve
the exact opposite of what the bill was intended to do.
The bill seeks to put in place a uniform rating system across the country
which would close the gap between the rich and poor.
He said that the value of the site stemmed mainly from its location, and the
value of the location arose from factors such as "infrastructure, proximity
to labour, raw materials and markets, proximity to amenities such as
schools, shops and workplaces and the beauty of the natural surroundings".
He said that as such, the site value could be seen as public property
because none of the value was due to the behaviour of the owner. This made
site value eminently suitable for a basis for rates.
"On the other hand, the value of improvements is not a fit subject for
taxation. Improvements carried out and paid for by the owner of the property
are truly private property'. Therefore any tax on improvements is in effect
an expropriation of a portion of the value of such improvements. It is also
a penalty on improvements and a disincentive for owners to make such
improvements," Jacques said.
He said that the worst disadvantage of improved value rating was that it
would discourage businesses from locating in marginal areas "and in fact it
would encourage those that are already there to move to prime areas".
"One of the major problems in SA today is increasing poverty in the marginal
areas amidst increasing wealth and progress in the prime areas. It is our
belief that the overall tax system is a major cause of this inequity. The
Property Rates Bill will add to the tax burden of marginal areas and
increase this inequity still further," he said.
Godfrey Dunkley, of the International Union for Land Value Taxation, said
the least popular and economically most restrictive form of rating was being
forced on the country. "Rates on improvements do and will stifle progress.
Rates on land only will transform both the economy and land distribution."
It also discourages land speculation and this releases land for
redistribution to local communities."
He warned that large vested interests and land speculators feared a
land-based rate. Wealthy landlords, he said, wanted rating systems which
shifted the burden onto the middle class and the poor.
GN Comments: Here is a report from Rich Nymoen on the results of
this year's campaign for land value taxation in Minnesota:
This year, the ISAIAH organization persuaded Abrams to reintroduce the
bill and lined up an influential Democratic author in the Senate. The
bill was heard in the Senate and eventually passed, in mutilated form, as
part of its omnibus tax bill. However, for reasons still unknown, Abrams
never heard his bill in his own committee in the House. We were hopeful
the bill could be restored to its original, or at least a usable, form in
conference. However, it was simply removed completely.
We'll try to get a full explanation over the summer in anticipation of
another, more vigorous, attempt in coming years. This year's effort at
least stimulated discussion of the idea both within the legislature and
within the MN anti-sprawl community. We'll keep you abreast of future
efforts here in the Land o' Lakes.
Nadine Stoner and Ed Dodson have each pointed out that eBay, the largest
online auction site, hosts quite a number of land transactions. We can
learn something by observing these sales and their trends.
Dodson writes:
Properties on the top ten list range from recreational parcels for hunting,
camping and fishing to lots for home building to development plots that can
be used for investment, according to eBay Real Estate.
A parcel of land is sold on the Web site every 45 minutes, and more than
15,000 parcels have been posted for sale since its inception, according to
eBay Real Estate.
GN Comments: Here is an announcement from Mike Curtis, director of
the Henry George School.
The Henry George School of Social Science in New York City seeks candidates
for the position of Director of Education. Knowledge and commitment to
Georgist philosophy and economics, experience in teaching and managing an
educational or a similar organization are required. Send resumes by June
17, 2003 to Search Committee, Attn: Secretary, Henry George School of Social
Science, 121 East 30th Street, New York, NY 10016.
Here's a note from Ed Dodson:
GN Comments: How do you spend $56 million to "preserve" existing rental
housing? Unless the city of Seattle is in business as a landlord, it sounds
as though that money will go into the private pockets of landowners and
building owners, many of whom do not even live in the state of Washington.
A transfer of money from the taxpaying classes to the absentee landowner
class is not a very likely solution to the affordable housing shortage, in
our opinion.
For years, we have benefited from resources and information made available
through the Land Tenure Center at the University of Wisconsin. Now that
Center will be closing, effective July 1, 2003.
For further information, and to see what LTC services might continue under
other auspices, visit: www.wisc.edu/ltc/
Don't say you don't have enough time. You have exactly the same number of
hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michaelangelo,
Mother Teresa, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, and Albert Einstein.
Know the true value of time! Snatch, seize, and enjoy every moment of it.
No idleness, no procrastination. Never put off until tomorrow what you can
do today.
When defeat comes, accept it as a signal that your plans are not sound,
rebuild those plans, and set sail once more toward your coveted goal.
The Georgist News is an email newsletter, sent free of charge.
Its purpose is to keep you updated on the latest news, world
events, projects, and initiatives of relevance to people who,
like Henry George, seek a world free from special privilege and
free from the causes of poverty.
The Georgist News on the WWW -
http://www.georgist.com/
The Progress Report:
www.progress.org/2003/cd29.htm
3. CGO Conference Update
Remember to register for the 2003 CGO conference as soon as possible.
email:
swalton@surfbest.net
4. News from Costa Rica
Costa Rica is located in the Central American isthmus south of Nicaragua
and North of Panama with an area of 50,100sq km and a population of 4
million. Costa Rica has two levels of government with tax collecting
power, the national level and the municipal level. The rules for both are
established in the National Assembly. A one house body with deputies
elected directly every four years, and they can't be re-elected
successively. The number of deputies for each province is determined
by population.
5. News from South Africa
"MPs Warned Not to Impose Rates On Improvements"
by Wyndham Hartley
6. News from Minnesota
It was a better-than-expected run, but in the end land value tax
legislation stalled out in conference committee this year in the MN
legislature. To recap, in 2001 Republican House Tax Chair, Ron Abrams,
succeeded in passing the House a bill that would have converted the
newly created state commercial/industrial property tax into a land value
tax. But, with little discussion, it was not accepted by the Democratic
Senate in conference committee.
7. Online Land Sales
The top 10 markets supplying land on eBay Real Estate, by rank, are:
1) southern Colorado, 2) new growth areas North of Los Angeles, 3)
southwest Florida's Gulf coast, 4) West Texas, 5) the Ozarks region of
Arkansas and Missouri, 6) scenic Blue Ridge Mountains of Tennessee and
North Carolina 7) Big Bear and other Los Angeles recreational areas,
8) southern Wyoming, 9) Cascade Mountains in southern Oregon and 10)
Grand Canyon and Lake Mead.
8. Georgist Job Opening
Position open for Director of Education
9. Affordable Housing
Last September, voters in Seattle, Washington approved an increase in
property taxes in order to create a fund for the preservation and creation
of affordable housing. The average cost to each homeowners is just $15
annually. Over seven years a fund of $86 million will be raised. Most of
this fund ($56 million) is targeted to preservation of existing affordable
rental housing. Roughly 40,000 of Seattle's households are paying over 30%
of their income on apartment rent. Had this surtax been applied to land
values only the effect could have been even more positive, we suspect.
10. Land Tenure Center Closing
and contact Len Maurer, (608) 262-5570,
lmaurer@cals.wisc.edu
11. AT THE MARGIN: Quips and Quotes
- H. Jackson Brown
- Philip Chesterfield
- Napoleon Hill
12. About The Georgist News
Copy Editor: Scott Kroyer
Proofreader: Caspar Davis
Supported by: The Robert Schalkenbach Foundation and others
Founder: Adam Monroe
Publisher: Hanno T. Beck
The Georgist News Volume Five, Number Twelve June 1, 2003