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)