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From: kjm@ut-ngp.UUCP (Ken Montgomery)
Newsgroups: net.politics.theory
Subject: Re: Libertarianism & property
Message-ID: <1281@ut-ngp.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 6-Feb-85 00:06:53 EST
Article-I.D.: ut-ngp.1281
Posted: Wed Feb  6 00:06:53 1985
Date-Received: Sun, 10-Feb-85 06:39:53 EST
References: <375@ssc-vax.UUCP>
Distribution: net
Organization: U.Texas Computation Center, Austin, Texas
Lines: 47

[This is a belated reply cross-posted from net.politics]

In <375@ssc-vax.UUCP>, eder@ssc-vax.UUCP (Dani Eder) writes:
>
>     The difference is between the land, which was not made by anyone,
>and the fruits of human labor.

Any land I might come to own will be paid for by the fruits of
my labor.  I therefore find your distinction between land and
other kinds of property to be nugatory.

> A system which seems reasonable to me
>is to tax only land occupancy (land ownership if that's what you want
>to call it), but not the improvements or any other personal property.

Why should I have to pay good money to protection racketeers?

>You may think of this as an indirect payment to the rest of society
>for restricting their access to the land.

Why do they have the right to access my land in the first place?
Either they have the right to use all of my property (in which
case I have no property rights anyway), or land is a special case
(which I find hard to believe).  Or do you have some other explanation
which lacks the contradiction of having ownership but not control?

>     Not only would this be a feasible change in the method of 
>taxation, but it would be an economic incentive as well.

Statement of belief: Manipulation of the economy via manipulation
of taxation is improper.

> ...
> (if you are Libertarian, ... 

I am not now, nor have I ever been, a member of the Libertarian
party.

>Dani Eder / Boeing / ssc-vax!eder

--
The above viewpoints are mine.  They are unrelated to
those of anyone else, including my cats and my employer.

Ken Montgomery  "Shredder-of-hapless-smurfs"
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