C.Lowell Harriss

Land deserves a prominent place in a tax system for reasons articulated long before tax evasion became a recognised problem...land is a productive resource whose total quantity does not depend upon the taxes imposed. The payment made for use does not go to reward the producer (creator) of the resources as will our payments for labour and man-made capital. Most of the value of land depends upon past and present community developments, not upon the efforts of past and present owners (as distinguished from buildings). Other reasons for using land as a tax base cumulate into an impressive total-to which one adds the merits of uniqueness among revenue sources as evasion-proof. President of National Tax Association Professor of Economics Columbia University August 1993