Houses depreciate over time, land appreciates. That means Canada's housing crisis is a land value crisis. If we tax land instead of incomes, we make housing cheaper and increase the value of our work.

Our current tax system punishes development and work. Land value tax is the only tax that doesn't do that.

When a neighbourhood improves, owners get the wealth; renters pay that wealth. This is a fundamental imbalance in our society that land value tax solves.

Looking forward to hosting this meetup with @ericlombardi.ca @commonwealthcanada.bsky.social If you're in the GTA and care about housing, intergenerational fairness, and fixing a system that's holding back builders and workers, come join us. RSVP below.

"Land values have surged. They're creating winners and losers. How can we soften that imbalance in part by asking those who've benefited to be a bigger part of the solution?" — Dr. Paul Kershaw (UBC & Generation Squeeze) youtube.com/watch?v=5WRTC_QYtXU

UBI is a freedom dividend to citizens as shareholders of the economy.

Spot on 💯

I had the privilege of interviewing Dr. Geoffrey Hinton, Nobel Laureate and "Godfather of AI" on one of the most important topics of our time: AI risk, the future of work, UBI, and the path forward for humanity x superintelligence Unfortunately bluesky doesn't do long videos. Link below to our talk

One of the most brilliant entrepreneurs and investors ever, Vinod Khosla called for UBI and sovereign wealth funds in the AI age. "It could be universal basic income, a wealth fund, services that are near free... I'd be surprised if it doesn't happen before 2040."

Automation is going up - but prices aren't coming down? Time for AI dividends.

Helen Keller probably supported Henry George's idea of taxing land instead of workers' incomes.

"Our policies don't just allow housing to be a financial asset, they actively encourage it. The more profitable housing becomes the less affordable it is for the people who actually need it." — John Pasalis, President of Realosophy Realty

It's far better to tax the rent of land than to tax the fruits of labour.

Norway's sovereign wealth fund reflects a shared belief that the value of nature is something owned in common. It's time Canadians shared this mindset of safeguarding, not squandering, our natural resource wealth.

Natural resources are gifts of nature owned by all citizens. It should benefit all citizens through universal dividends.

University of Toronto awarded a prestigious scholarship for a paper on shifting taxes to land to solve the housing crisis. It cites our research showing that an LVT-funded tax rebate can leave most Canadian households with more disposable income. newsletter.economics.utoronto.ca/is-a-land-va...

"It really seems like UBI is going to be absolutely necessary at the very least as a stopgap measure" — Dave Shapiro, post-labor economics pioneer and author of Labor/Zero

Texas has high property tax but no state income tax. As Canadians grapple over new property tax hikes, it's a good chance to understand this trade-off. Property tax is least damaging and LVT is even better. It could replace more harmful taxes on income.

A window into what's driving the housing crisis. It's often more profitable to keep land in a state of blight than put it to better use for humanity. Tax the land and fix the incentives.

Toronto real estate broker John Pasalis talks about land value tax, an old idea with renewed interest to improve the housing system.

AI accelerationists support UBI

Microsoft AI CEO and UBI supporter: "Most of the tasks accountants, lawyers and other professionals currently undertake will be fully automated by AI within 12-18 months" Also him: "UBI is a political and economic measure we have to start talking about in a serious way"

Society's not prepared for 30% baseline youth unemployment. Cathie Woods, Peter Diamandis and others have echoed that the path out is entrepreneurship. Besides the fact it's not for everyone, it demands the economic security/freedom UBI would provide. futurism.com/artificial-i...

We don't live in the capitalism envisioned by Adam Smith, where land is taxed instead of labour, and work is rewarded over hoarding. We're in a rentier economy that taxes labour over land and rewards hoarding over work.

Teddy Roosevelt supported land value tax to address rising rents.

"Chrystia Freeland... she is a Georgist. You're not gonna believe that." — Dr. Frank Peddle, co-editor of The Annotated Works of Henry George. Freeland supports land value tax and has even called for a revival of Henry George's ideas.

President of BC General Employees' Union, Paul Finch says it's "relatively inconceivable" that Vancouver can create a housing price shock by supply alone. "There's not enough raw materials and skilled trades people...to build the supply that would create a price shock."

Meanwhile, renters' paycheques are still taxed more than the rent of land. It should be the other way around.

Fix housing 🤝 Share common wealth 🤝 Solve poverty

Leading economists generally agree: tax land, not work.

Imagine if our tax system didn't take from work, but rewarded it instead. BC could eliminate anti-productive taxes on property/income with land value tax. Instead of taxing what we do earn, we should tax what we don't earn from holding land.

Imagine if our tax system didn't take from work, but rewarded it.

Technology can bring down the price of goods & services, but never to land value. That's why should tax land value over other things.

The capitalist vs. worker dichotomy is false. It's land vs. everything else. Returns to housing (mostly land) have been going up, while returns to capital (excluding housing) and labour have been going down.

In other news, Canada is on track to lose 77% of its mineral wealth to private extraction. That's about $1 trillion or $24,000 per Canadian that should pay us dividends instead.

As long as land rents suck up the bulk of people's incomes, Canadians will never eradicate poverty and economic precarity. Shift taxes to land, untax labour.

The idea of basic income first began as a common wealth dividend — a way to share the value of land, which no individual created. It's also how we share the proceeds of AIs trained on humanity's work.

People make more holding land than working But somehow we still tax work way more than unearned land gains Until we fix this, this gap will only continue to widen Literally 0 coverage by media and politicians

City council looks to land value tax to cut costs and drive growth.

we need land value tax

Actually, this IS inevitable in a technologically advancing society. Our economy naturally concentrates wealth in LAND and COMPANIES, away from WORKERS. The key is to give everyone a slice: UBI funded by sovereign wealth funds, land/natural resources, and AI.

He's saying what most politicians still won't about housing. Homeowners are getting wealthy at the expense of future generations. So do we want home prices to go up or down?

"Paradoxically, homelessness is at its worst in precisely those places where incomes and amenities are at their best... Homelessness thrives in places with exorbitant land rents, so solutions to homelessness should be funded by a tax on land values." — Schalkenbach Foundation

Canada and the provinces should follow Alaska's oil dividend model of paying citizens a common income from common wealth.

Our language around housing is broken, because the incentives are broken. When homes get more expensive it's celebrated as 'recovery'. Otherwise it's 'sluggish'. No matter what politicians say, homes will never be affordable unless land becomes a worse investment.

A Universal Land Dividend (UBI funded by land rents) could leave 80% of Canadian households and 70% of UK households with more income, while addressing the housing crisis. If you support UBI or LVT, here's why they're even better together:

Local governments should see LVT as a way to recoup public investment dollars — "a free tax revenue card" — that doesn't harm the economy. We could have more public transit that pays for itself from the land value it creates in the first place.

Basic Income? How about Common Wealth Dividends. One helps those in need, like low-income and seniors benefits, and the other is a payment for things that belong to everyone, like carbon and natural resource dividends. They solve different problems, and we need both.

Taxing income and consumption is more damaging to our economy than taxing land.