Prosper Australia

The Australian

Mr Michael Janda’s advocacy of land value taxation as a means of lowering the tax burden on both workers and entrepreneurs is well advised. As Adam Smith recognized, there are only three factors of production - land, labour and capital - and only one of them does not flee or stop working or breeding when taxed.

In the modern context, land values cannot be shifted offshore to escape taxation (in contrast to nebulous and artificial concepts such as “income” or “capital gains”). Shrewd contemporary observers such as Samuel Brittan of the London Financial Times have recognized that taxing land values to reduce taxes on capital and labour can allow developed Western countries compete better against emerging low-wage economic giants such as India and China. (more…)