Ralph Waldo Emerson 1803-1882

Whilst another man has no land, my title to mine, and your title to yours, is at once vitiated.

Germany 1919

Germany 1919 It was the landed aristocracy that put Hitler into power. It is interesting to note that before World War II, German agricultural land was owned primarily by the Junkers, the old military nobility, who considered themselves to be inherently superior to the lower classes. It was not uncommon to observe these lower classes bowing and removing their hats when the nobles rode by. Bruno Heilwigs: 'Why the German Republic fell.' It makes for depressing reading. Heilwig tells how fortunes were made by the well connected through the ownership of just a few square metres of dirt in large German cities. In Berlin alone, land prices escalated over 700% in less than six years. Under Hitler, the original Nazi program called for a complete overhaul of this antiquated agricultural system, a program with mass appeal to lower class resentment at the power of the nobility. Indeed, at Munich on March 6th 1930, Hitler, to thundering “sieg Heils”, proclaimed; “The land of Germany, acquired and defended by the German nation, must be at the service of the German nation as a means of livelihood. Those who occupy the land must administer it in this sense. German land must not become an object of financing speculation, nor may it provide an unearned income for its owner. It may only be acquired by him, who is prepared to cultivate it himself. Therefore the state has a right of pre-emption on every sale of land.” In 1933, Hitler cut a deal with the Junkers and their Chancellor at the time, General Von Hindenburg. Or was the deal the other way around ? It’s irrelevant anyway since what happened is history. In uniting with the Nazis, and appointing Hitler as Chancellor, the Nazi party shelved the land reform programs, extended subsidies to big land owners and stopped an investigation of a tax scandal involving Hindenburg himself. Hitler took full advantage of the opportunities as they presented themselves to firmly establish his ascension to power. Vlad Zhirinovsky - 1995

Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919)

The burden of taxation should be so shifted as to put the weight upon the unearned rise in value of land itself, rather than upon the improvements. There is no subjugation so potent as that which leaves the appearance of freedom.

Two alternatives for Pitsburgh

Assuming that a tax increase is necessary, it is clearly preferable to impose the additional cost on land by increasing the land tax, rather than to increase the wage tax ˇ the two alternatives open to the City (of Pittsburgh). It is the use and occupancy of property that creates the need for municipal services that appear as the largest item in the budget ˇ fire and police protection, waste removal, and public works. The average increase in tax bills of the city residents will be about twice as great with wage tax increase than with a land tax increase. Herbert Simon, (1978)