Tom Paine's Agrarian Justice nails Bay Area Housing: the walking tour

Come along on a free walking tour surveying the ideas of Tom Paine and Henry George.

Ol' Tom Paine irked and scandalized the gentry. He proposed, in his pamphlet AGRARIAN JUSTICE, to fund an entrepreneurial start in life . . . as well as an old age pension out of a modest tax on land value uplift. Where he was headed with this found full exposition with 19th century San Francisco newspaperman Henry George's proposal to tax away the full annual rent potential of land/location values.

George's proposal resolves the housing, labor, and capital debacle all at once. We want wages to stay high, so don't tax 'em at all. We want plenty of housing built, so don't tax houses and buildings at all. We want lots of stuff, so don't tax stuff at all. However, we all want the Earth, so tax anyone who wants to exclude you from a part of your Earth exactly what the nominal land owner would charge you to use it. He'll only keep what he wants for himself; you'll pay for what you want for yourself; the community will pocket a mint; and housing to satisfy every YIMBY and housing rights advocate in the universe will get built, if not by others then by you when your earnings aren't taxed, building materials aren't taxed, and the house you build isn't taxed.

The high price of real estate is land values, chum.

Come along on a free walking tour surveying the ideas of Tom Paine and Henry George.