The paper, entitled "Potential Revenue Collection Through a Single Tax on Land" (Conor Casey) goes beyond the first step of land value taxation and renews Henry George's call for one, and only one, tax - that on the value of land. The report concludes:
Economic rent is something that’s not easy to calculate with 100% accuracy. However, by looking at the available data and taking the context in which it was recorded into account, one can arrive at a reliable estimate for potential value. In the case of collecting Vermont land rents, the potential revenue is close to $1.07 billion compounded 5% annually. This represents a huge increase in revenue for the state, which could feasibly replace all other revenue sources in the state budget. Collecting economic rent from land is a perfectly viable way to fund most, if not all state obligations. The only obstacle in the path of economically efficient rent collection is political will.
While replacing property taxes with land value taxes is a worthy goal - eliminating all taxation, save that on the value of land, should remain the ultimate goal. It is the only way that we will ever achieve a truly free market in goods and services. A free market cannot exist as long as labor or its produce are taxed.
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