We can have one without the other
I broadly agree with Frank de Jong regarding UBIs (UBI self-defeating unless funded by rental value capture): to do universal basic income without a land value tax is foolish, and fundamentally unsustainable. However, I disagree with the characterization of “self-defeating”, for reasons of both a… Read More »Even an Imperfect UBI Not Necessarily “Self-Defeating”
A universal basic income (UBI) is an idea whose time has definitely come, especially considering the devastating COVID-19 related business and job disruptions. As well as covering basic costs for the duration of the pandemic, a UBI can and will help businesses retool, restructure and… Read More »UBI self-defeating unless funded by rental value capture – Point A
In the last weeks, our attention has (rightly) been focused at the national level, and in a time when the word “unprecedented” has been used so often it barely registers, it was hardly surprising that the 2020 Presidential election was one for the record books. … Read More »The Presidential Election is Over. It’s Time to Think Local.
Property taxes are ubiquitous around the world, and in the United States, they’re a tax most people love to hate. Unlike sales and income taxes, which are baked into every purchase and paycheck, property taxes are added onto mortgage bills or mailed in as lump… Read More »A Surprising Vaccine for Cities Hit Hard By COVID: Property Taxes
Part 1 of Property Tax: The Last One Standing introduced “Property Tax Independence Act” (PTIA) and the proposal for a constitutional amendment in the state of Pennsylvania for the sentimental sobriquet of “House Bill 1776.” Read part one here. The Spirit of 76? Tax… Read More »Property Tax: The Last One Standing – Part 2
As the first punches from Covid 19 landed on state and local government revenues in spring 2020, it was clear that the virus’s impact, compounded by mandated shutdowns, blew big holes in budgets. Public health and the economy both slumped quickly, draining revenue for essential… Read More »Property Tax: The Last One Standing – Part 1
Most recent economics texts have devoted little or no space to the subject of rent and rent seeking. In classical economics, that which prevailed over a century ago prior to what is today known as neoclassical economics, rent was a pivotal idea and factor of… Read More »The Impact of Rent and Rent-Seeking on the Economy
Major internet-based platforms like Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, and Google (FAANG) command monopolies allowing them to charge well beyond their costs. (The House Antitrust Subcommittee determined in October 2020 that Facebook wields monopoly powers in social network and has maintained its position by acquiring, copying or killing its competitors.)… Read More »Platform Capitalism is Eating Your Town
The “Green New Deal” is a set of proposed laws that are intended to reduce the pollution that contributes to climate change. The term is, of course, adapted from the “New Deal” policies of the Roosevelt administration during the Great Depression. New Deal policies included… Read More »A Green New Deal Tax Shift
By: Matthew Downhour Analogies are simple and sometimes helpful ways to understand policy and economics but can obscure as much as they reveal. Both on the left and right, it is popular to think of the economy (or more broadly, the good things in life)… Read More »BOOK REVIEW: One Billion Americans
