Dutch Governor of New Amsterdam (New York)

Regarding self-assessment of the value of land for the tax he imposed upon land speculation (15/1/1658): It is left to the device of the Burgomasters either to take the lot at the owner's price for account of the City and sell it at this price to anyone who desires to build conformably to the ordinance, or else to leave it to the owner until it is built upon by him or others, when this charge, for good reason laid upon unimproved land, shall be taken off. Peter Stuyvesant, (1592-1672)

John Stuart Mill (1806-1873):

Landlords grow richer in their sleep without working, risking or economising. The increase in the value of land, arising as it does from the efforts of an entire community, should belong to the community and not to the individual who might hold title. “A tax on rent falls wholly on the landlord. There are no means by which he can shift the burden upon anyone else.... A tax on rent, therefore, has no effect other than its obvious one. It merely takes so much from the landlord and transfers it to the State.” Principles of Political Economy, Book 5, Chapter 3, Section 2.