Monopoly’s precursor “The Landlord’s Game” was invented by Lizzie Magie in the early 1900s to demonstrate why Capitalism needs Georgism to actually have any semblance of fairness, competition, and longevity.
Georgism is roughly the idea that ALL tax should come from land ownership, and that taxes on labour/wages should be abolished.
The game was created to be a “practical demonstration of the present system of land grabbing with all its usual outcomes and consequences”. She based the game on the economic principles of Georgism, a system proposed by Henry George, with the object of demonstrating how rents enrich property owners and impoverish tenants. She knew that some people could find it hard to understand why this happened and what might be done about it, and she thought that if Georgist ideas were put into the concrete form of a game, they might be easier to demonstrate.
Personally I think the landlords would just increase the rent while saying their interests are literally the only ones that need protection from the state because they generate all the revenue but can’t blame them for trying.
Rents will presumably rise accordingly, and then be captured in the form of a tax that is both very difficult to evade and no longer harms economic efficiency
I think that’s a rather hopeful view of the situation, but, on the other hand, I guess it would also help real estate bubbles from forming so there’s that at least.
Then tenants will keep more money, in any case where there’s any competition in housing.
And in any case where there’s no competition in the housing supply, tenants will still be unharmed because they’re already paying the maximum amount that landlords can get away with.
My first thought was that ending the taxes at land ownership was shortsighted - all capital should be taxed - but then I looked up Georgism on Wikipedia and saw that that was basically already in scope (mostly by “including title of ownership for natural resources and other contrived privileges (e.g., intellectual property)”).
Monopoly’s precursor “The Landlord’s Game” was invented by Lizzie Magie in the early 1900s to demonstrate why Capitalism needs Georgism to actually have any semblance of fairness, competition, and longevity.
Georgism is roughly the idea that ALL tax should come from land ownership, and that taxes on labour/wages should be abolished.
Personally I think the landlords would just increase the rent while saying their interests are literally the only ones that need protection from the state because they generate all the revenue but can’t blame them for trying.
Generally speaking landlords charge as much in rent as the market will bear. If they could get away with charging more they would already be doing so.
Right, and when tenants aren’t paying taxes?
Rents will presumably rise accordingly, and then be captured in the form of a tax that is both very difficult to evade and no longer harms economic efficiency
I think that’s a rather hopeful view of the situation, but, on the other hand, I guess it would also help real estate bubbles from forming so there’s that at least.
Then tenants will keep more money, in any case where there’s any competition in housing.
And in any case where there’s no competition in the housing supply, tenants will still be unharmed because they’re already paying the maximum amount that landlords can get away with.
It’s risk free for tenants.
Counterintuitively, a LVT wouldn’t distort prices because the supply of land is fixed.
My first thought was that ending the taxes at land ownership was shortsighted - all capital should be taxed - but then I looked up Georgism on Wikipedia and saw that that was basically already in scope (mostly by “including title of ownership for natural resources and other contrived privileges (e.g., intellectual property)”).
Yes! Here’s a video about it: https://youtu.be/B7nFA19Gzrw