Category: Georgist/geoist

Texas schools get funding from natural resources

The Texas General Land Office is that state’s oldest agency, and originally responsible for giving out land titles.  But today it continues to manage 20.3 million acres of land and mineral rights.  (That’s 466 square miles, just a tiny piece of the state.)  Revenue, about $800 million annually, goes into the School Fund, supplementing the $22 billion already there, the income from which goes to public schools.

While this demonstrates that land rent can be used to fund schools statewide, the GLO is hardly a pure implementation of Georgist theory.  It continues to sell (and buy) land, and gets involved in developments which might not make economic sense but benefit insiders.

Auction of landing slots could at least help pay for infrastructure

Articles from the New York Sun indicate that there’s serious interest in auctioning landing slots at the New York area airports. Mayor Bloomberg and the Bush Administration are in favor, Port Authority less enthused. No mention of what they’d be worth, but a US DOT official said

[T]he whole point of the auctions was to generate the proceeds necessary to build out an upgraded infrastructure at participating airports.

which implies that they’re not expecting to even cover the full cost of existing infrastructure, let alone the rent (that is, what the site and the right to operate an airport would be worth if the airport didn’t exist). The earlier article notes that it would incentivize carriers to operate larger aircraft, presumably providing more capacity.

Pedestrian directions now available on Google maps

So, for instance, suppose I want to get some of that free land in Marquette, Kansas, but I don’t have a car or bicycle.  Google will provide directions, a total of 314 segments for the 766-mile trip.  Google estimates it’ll take me 10 days and 10 hours, which works out to just over 3 miles per hour.  I guess they assume I sleepwalk, but take breaks occasionally. I don’t imagine their database worries about whether there are sidewalks, but they do say “Walking directions are in beta. Use caution when walking in unfamiliar areas.”

Solar power brings more land speculation

I shouldn’t be surprised to read, in Fortune, that speculators are buying up sites with good potential for solar power generation. The article indicates that these are largely desert areas near major cities of the West, and particularly the Mojave near Los Angeles. Prices have increased from $500 to $10,000 (or more) per acre. Much of the site is government (BLM) land intended as a nature reserve; it’s not (currently) for sale but can be leased (prices not discussed in the article.) Continue reading Solar power brings more land speculation

Land rent is for fighting over

One problem with private collection of land rent is that people spend their energy fighting over it rather than doing anything productive.  Today’s Tribune carries an example.  In the 1950s, some 400 Chicagoans started an agricultural community near downstate Ullin, 350 miles away.  It prospered for a while, but after the founder’s death in 1978, a schism developed.

The struggle and the lawsuits that followed, members now concede, wasn’t so much about the group’s name, but power, control and money. And there was lots of money.

Over the years, as the Israelite Bible Class had farmed less and less, the group had leased land to local, non-member farmers, a business that generated thousands of dollars of annual revenue.

Also, the farm itself, on the banks of the scenic Cache River, had considerably increased in value since the group purchased it in the mid-1950s, after forming a not-for-profit corporation in 1953.

Today the central court case over ownership, which has been appealed repeatedly, remains active, although after more than 30 years of litigation no one seems too inclined to push it any further.

The issue of rent and land value could not have arisen if the rent were not privatized.

Renegade Economists on broadcast and pod

Melbourne radio 3CR’s weekly Renegade Economists show is now available by podcast.  To my knowledge this is the first podcasting, and the only current radio broadcasting, by any Georgists.

Main presenters Karl Fitzgerald and Alice Bleby are associated with Earthsharing Australia, whose numerous activities now include a filmmaking competition.

Why Canberra's land leasing failed

Australia’s capital, Canberra, was set up as a leased-land community, so that, as PM Edmund Barton said, “we shall be able to get the land on fair terms, lease it on fair terms and still make a profit for the Commonwealth.”  While economically land leasing can be similar to Henry George’s proposal to collect the land rent, serious mistakes were made.  In particular, lease rates were to be re-evaluated only every 20 years.  Thus, a lease could gain speculative value, and by the time revaluation was due a significant interest was opposed to it.

Details are in an article by Leo Foley, reprinted in the Australian Georgist journal Progress.

Slashdot discussion on IP

The general issue of “Intellectual ‘Property'” was raised today on Slashdot, and the ensuing discussion makes just about all the important points. Most people accept some sort of IP, but length of protection, especially for copyrights, is too long. Some question whether IP is legitimate at all; others point out that patents do require holders to provide details of their inventions, thus preventing long-term trade secrets. And there’s a link to what seems to be a fine book Against Intellectual Property, which can be purchased in hardcopy or downloaded free.

Progress in Pennsylvania, maybe Connecticut

The March ’08 issue (pdf) of the Center for the Study of Economics’ Incentive Taxation newsletter has a couple of positive notes.

Washington, PA, a split-rate city for decades, solved a budget deficit by raising the tax on land to 82.63 mills, while taxing buildings at a rate of only 3.5 mills. Thus the added tax burden goes mainly to people who are leaving land idle, and doesn’t discourage productive construction or investment.

And in New London, CT., the Re-New London Council recommends a land tax because of its benefits to, among other things, housing affordability. Had such a policy been in place over past decades, perhaps the Kelo case would never have happened.