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However, as Georgists know, any kind of transfer tax on property has the opposite effect to LVT and will fail: it will further suppress the supply of land for housing and increase the price of houses. The good news is that many leading academics and property industry figures know this - and will lobby hard to ensure a better way of capturing land values is adopted. At least we now have it officially from Government: the subject is worthy of study and debate.
Significantly, no decision will be made on tax reform until after the next UK General election, due in 2005.
Josh Vincent of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is due to speak at a 6 July conference on LVT in London, chaired by Dave Wetzel, a Georgist who is Vice Chair of Transport for London. British interest in the reasons for Philadelphia's recent support for a switch to LVT will be considerable.
"We are more determined than ever to go ahead with the International Union Conference scheduled for the 27th to the 30th of May. The only solution to the devastating conflicts that bring a shadow over the world is economic justice, and economic justice can only be based on the destruction of the monopolistic structure that jeopardizes the capitalist system.
"More than ever, we need you all in our Conference!
"We look forward to see you in Madrid on the 27th-30th May 2004."
For more information, visit: http://www.interunion.org.uk/madridfront.htm
GN Comments: You can reach Jeff Smith at geonomist@juno.com
Other order? Other topics? Other contributors?"
GN Comments: Send your comments, suggestions and other feedback to Jeff Smith at geonomist@juno.com
Hartzok recently submitted the Declaration of Rights to Earth (originally released in 1949 by the International Union for Land Value Taxation and Free Trade) to the Alliance's World Parliament discussion forum - it was reproduced in English, Spanish and French and is being viewed by a worldwide audience.
Hartzok would welcome your participation as she continues to build bridges between Georgist ideas and those people most in need of hearing them.
For more information on the Alliance, visit: www.alliance21.org/2003
Alanna Hartzok can be reached at earthrts@pa.net
CENTENARY OF "PROGRESS" JOURNAL
by Karl Williams
Plans are afoot to make a big media splash to promote the main Australian Georgist journal, the Melbourne-based Progress, as it celebrates its 100th birthday.
Progress began as a monthly journal on May 2, 1904, 14 years after Henry George visited Melbourne and pulled around 10,000 eager followers to hear him speak. It soon attracted a huge readership, proudly proclaiming "GUARANTEED CIRCULATION 20,000" by 1913, peaking at an unofficial 30,000 soon afterwards. However circulation plummeted after the First World War as Australia suffered the highest rate of per capita casualties of all combatant nations. [Conspiracy theorists should investigate whether Georgists were deliberately herded into the trenches of The Somme to be ordered to go "over the top" and mercilessly mown down!!!]
Many luminaries have graced the pages of Progress over the years, such as Walter Burley-Griffin, the "Father of Canberra", the American-born designer of Australia's capital. State and Federal politicians from both principal sides of politics have used Progress to extol Georgist principles, but now we see our best hopes resting with the rapidly-rising Australian Greens and their gradually-evolving taxation policies.
Since Prosper Australia has its own offices right in the middle of Melbourne's central business district, we plan to use the Progress centennial to get our message across to thousands of people. We plan to have a whole week of street celebrations and attention-grabbing activities to add momentum to our steady resurgence.
Today, Progress is a bimonthly journal of 28 or 32 glossy A4-size pages, produced entirely in-house on MS Word, but with design features that early editors would have died for. Each issue has a number of Australian and overseas contributors writing feature articles, plus regular pieces such as:
We're offering readers of Georgist News the chance to have a complimentary copy of issue no. 1061, the centenary edition, airmailed to them if they can answer this question: Who was the brilliant maverick economist who lived from 1839 to 1897 whose initials were H.G.? Send entries to kwilliams@rabbit.com.au
GN Comments: Progress really is wonderful. Be sure to take advantage of Karl Williams' offer.
Opponents include an apartment developer whose properties are too far away to benefit from the proposed rail line. He prefers the much more efficient Bus Rapid Transit to serve his properties. Other opponents blast the tax district, saying it will only benefit the landowners and developers, but they will all have to pay for it.
Owners of 70% of the land in the proposed tax district have signed on to the proposal, and land owners have already promised to provide the land for the rail stations. All of the land is commercially zoned for maximum development.
A similar tax district was formed to fund the widening of Rte. 28 by Dulles Airport from 2 lanes to 8 lanes.
These tax districts would better serve the community if the tax were levied only on land and not on buildings, to ensure that the land owners would develop the land to pay the tax.
EMINENT DOMAIN OR GOVERNMENT LAND GRAB?
by Ed Dodson of the School of Cooperative Individualism
Increasingly, cities and states are grabbing property so developers can build for-profit facilities, such as sports arenas and shopping centers. Their convoluted rationale is that the projects create jobs and generate taxes that benefit the entire community, says USA Today.
The extent of the trend has been documented for the first time by the Institute for Justice, a non-profit law group opposed to these forced "takings." It has found 10,000 such condemnation attempts across the country since 1998.
Among the biggest seizures underway:
Defenders of eminent domain say it's often the only way to revive depressed areas. They say those unwilling to sell for a fair price shouldn't thwart progress for all.
But extending eminent domain from projects that directly serve the public, to projects that feed public coffers, encourages abuse. Without limits, it places too many individuals at risk of losing their property in the name of generating more tax revenue, says USA Today.
Source: Editorial, "Curtail for-profit 'land grabs'" USA Today, February 26, 2004 and Dana Berliner, "Public Power, Private Gain," Institute for Justice, April 2003.
GN Comments: This issue is one where Georgists can and should be helping to untangle the confusion and injustice of the status quo. For other examples of eminent domain abuse, see articles in The Progress Report, such as http://www.progress.org/emdom03.htm
You can find the site at http://www.reinventingmoney.com
Jupp was a legal expert, High Court judge and author of Georgist books. A newly-completed volume of his essays on justice is scheduled for publication later this year.
GN Comments: Thanks to Fred Harrison for informing us of this sad news. For further information, contact Fred Harrison at metaman@compuserve.com
Obituary at: www.timesonline.co.uk
Mary Jane was an accomplished artist and was active in art community activities in the Minneapolis area. One of her last pictures was one of Heaven, which hangs in the Harold King Memorial Room at the Wayzata Community Church.
Mary Jane and John had been married for over 50 years and had four great-grandchildren.
GN Comments: Thanks to Nadine Stoner for informing us of this sad news. For further information, contact Nadine Stoner at NadStoner@aol.com
For a full description, list of speakers, how to register, and other information, visit: www.arlingtoninstitute.org/springseminar2004/2aprilCon_home.asp
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