I just read John Passant‘s 2012 paper “A basic guide to taxing economic rent in Australia” again today.

It contains a lot of worthwhile discussion on a subject critical to economies repairing themselves from the vicissitudes of rent-seeking.

Given the topic, however, you’d expect in addition to Smith, Ricardo, Marx, Ken Henry, John Freebairn et al, Passant may at least have read a little Henry George.

He’s clearly never done so, otherwise he couldn’t possibly have included this risibly dismissive one-line reference to George:

“… the Henry George idea of land as the foundation for all wealth.”

I guess we all make mistakes – but that’s a clanger and a half!

Just one more example of the ongoing disinformation concerning George’s tightly argued case that economic rent must be taxed away to stop monopolies from developing, and for labour and capital to receive their rightful reward.