How NYC’s tax mess overtaxes tenants & towers, and what to do about it. I’m sure that many of you, like me, spend much of your time thinking about what an ideal tax system would look like. Perhaps you fantasize about abolishing the income tax,… Read More »Footing the Bill: The Big Apple’s Property Tax Leviathan
Board Member at the Progress & Poverty Institute Arlington Heights faces a critical decision regarding the Chicago Bears’ proposed development to build a new stadium to build a new stadium. While some argue for tax breaks and incentives to lure the team to build in… Read More »No Tax Breaks for the Bears: A Smarter Approach for Arlington Heights
Introduction On average, almost 40 percent of properties in Pennsylvania’s cities are exempt from local real estate taxes, representing an estimated loss of over $600 million in potential property tax revenue based on market value, according to new research by the Pennsylvania Economy League,… Read More » Money Down the Drain? The Impact of Tax-Exempt Property on Municipalities in Pennsylvania
“What protectionism teaches us, is to do to ourselves in time of peace what enemies seek to do to us in time of war.” – Henry George, Protection or Free Trade The perspective of Georgist is often summed up as simply being the advocacy of… Read More »Why do Georgists oppose tariffs?
Taxes influence behavior. When you tax cigarettes and alcohol, people are less likely to buy them. When you tax property and buildings, people are less likely to invest in improving current properties and developing new ones. This leads to run-down buildings, empty lots and underutilized… Read More »How Land Value Taxes Could Promote Fairer Taxes
Significant legal cases and corporate actions have recently drawn attention to monopolistic practices, raising the importance of antitrust issues within the public discourse. From the recent court ruling deeming Google a monopoly to ongoing concerns about the potential merger of grocery giants Albertsons and Kroger,… Read More »Antitrust and Anti-Monopoly: An Exploration of Historical Context and Contemporary Relevance
Societies have long grappled with the question of how to share (or not) the wealth derived from natural resources. Some, like the United States, have embraced systems that allow much of that wealth to fall into the hands of a few private citizens. Others, like… Read More »What Henry George (and Norway) Can Teach Us About Governing the Digital Economy
Cartoons have long been used to make political commentary, and perhaps never more so than at the turn of the 19th century, when lively images regularly graced the pages of popular media outlets, bringing to life the ideas, conflicts, and scandals of important public figures.… Read More »From the 19th Century to the 21st: A New Georgist Cartoon Archive is Under Development!
It’s a tough time to be a home buyer in today’s housing market. Housing shortages continue, and interest rates on mortgages are about double what they were two years ago. In June 2024, the average was 6.95% for a 30-year fixed mortgage and 6.17% for… Read More »Land Value Tax and Mortgages
Mark Twain claimed that “history doesn’t repeat itself, but it does rhyme”; at some point though the repetition and rhyming become indistinguishable. Tony Mellon, grandson of Gilded Age robber baron and 1920s Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon, gave a pro-Trump PAC $50 million the day after… Read More »There is a reason the U.S. abandoned revenue tariffs
