Australia has been terribly afflicted by bushfires; the extent of coronavirus is yet to be established.

Now we have a reason, or reasons, to have our economic collapse. If history serves, it’ll never be sheeted home to the real reason: our impossibly high land prices.

High land prices assist the growth of monopolies. That’s why people like John Locke, Adam Smith, David Ricardo, JS Mill, Henry George, Mason Gaffney, Michael Hudson and Joseph Stigliz have said land values ought to be taxed.

And if we take ‘land’ to mean the rent of ALL natural resources, this includes the rent of minerals and the electromagnetic spectrum.

Banks wouldn’t be happy, because they create money by lending against land prices–which would gradually disappear towards zero if all the land rent were collected publicly–although the economic rent of natural resources would of course remain.

GAFA (Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon) wouldn’t be happy if airwaves rent were captured. As with banks, their super-profits reduce.

However, people would be happy: no land price, no other taxes, lower prices for goods and services because the deadweight losses inflicted by taxes would be removed.

What’s not to like about doing away with land prices and taxes and transitioning to taxing economic rents?