"There is a big discovery to be made, and this lies in this epochal change - the rediscovery of Resource Rent." Bryan Kavanagh

Definition:
The Commons, n., gifts of nature and society; the wealth we inherit or create together and must pass on, undiminished or enhanced, to our children; a sector of the economy that complements the corporate sector.

Reclaiming The Commons

Bryan Kavanagh is an experienced property valuer (over 32 years as Land Valuer with the Australian Tax Office and with various Australian banks).

During his tenure as Director of the Melbourne, Australia-based Land Values Research Group, Bryan Kavanagh published a study on the effects of property bubbles in a publication titled:
Unlocking the Riches of Oz: A Case Study of the Social and Economic Costs of Real Estate Bubbles, 1972 to 2006. Download here.

Most importantly, his research revealed that if Australians collected just half of the Resource Rent due, there would be sufficient funding to pay for all public services and public infratructure, and an annual tax-free Citizen Dividend of between $34,000. and $49,000. for every Australian. And, the bonus? The removal of all income and business taxes. In other words, by collecting and distributing the 'economic rent' the Australian government could afford to remove all taxes on productivity.

As one of the world’s leading analysts on the inter-relationship between land and the economy, Bryan had this to say in an interview on 18 April 2008:

"When it comes to economics, the reintegration of the theory of valuation is essential. It’s the new frontier.

Just as we sent Voyager out to explore space, we're at a turning point where the economy is not working for us. There is a big discovery to be made, and this lies in this epochal change - the rediscovery of Resource Rent.
Shifting—transferring taxes to Resource Rent is going to open the way for a whole new development for humanity.

The implications for humanity are greater freedom, more time for relaxation, for family, more time for the arts, and far less government control of our lives. These ideas might sound mystical, but they are the sorts of solutions that could be delivered to us, once we pass through this new frontier.

Its not just land rents we want to capture, we want to capture licenses for electromagnetic spectrum, aircraft slots, all forms of forestry and mineral licenses, all resources. These would supplement our charges on land values, and add to the enormous Resource Rent pot, that is now 285 billion - more than our current level of tax revenue.

We've witnessed the progressive loss of a sense of community, and land rents represent community. If we collected Resource Rent, we'd get rid of poverty.

We have a widening gap between wealthy and poor because the wealthy are capturing Resource Rent.

We've got to rediscover the Land tax system.

This would open up enormous benefits. It would fund infrastructure, education, health, all of these areas that are crying out for funds, and this fund is sitting there, being grossly capitalized by individuals and causing us to ratchet up taxes to fund them. But if we decrease taxes, and capture more of the Resource Rent, we would be doing as nature intends us to do— using growing Resource Rent funds for public purposes."

"When writers, painters, musicians, filmmakers suspend their judgment and blindly yoke their art to the service of the nation (i.e. Nationalism), it's time for all of us to sit up and worry." Arundhati Roy.

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A History of Economics & The Law of Rent

For well over two hundred years, an increasingly worldwide network of people have been working
towards establishing economic justice. Their efforts were inspired by the 18th century French Physiocrats, (French economists who believed that the wealth of nations was derived solely from the value of land agriculture or land development), followed by classical political economists: English economist ADAM SMITH (1723-1790) whose book 'The Wealth of Nations' was published in 1776; English economist DAVID RICARDO (1772-1823), whose book 'The Law of Rent' was published in 1809; English philosopher and economist JOHN STUART MILL (1806-1873); English philosopher HERBERT SPENCER (1820-1903); Irish social justice campaigner, Michael Davitt (1846-1906), was the Father of the Land League. His book The Fall of Fuedalism in Ireland was published in 1904. Download here.

In 1879, American writer and political economist Henry George (1839-1897) wrote 'Progress and Poverty', which quickly became the all-time best-selling book on economics: Download here.

"George's theme was that the fundamental reason for the maldistribution of wealth in a free enterprise society was the private ownership of natural resources. He did not advocate the nationalisation of land as did some of his socialist contemporaries but a concentration of revenue-raising, or a single tax as it came to be known, upon the value of land, so that its yearly worth or economic rent would be taken into the public treasury in lieu of taxes on labour and production. He regarded the economic rent or annual value of raw land as society's natural income, increasing as the need for revenue grew with expanding population and social progress. These were not original ideas for they followed the track blazed by the French Physiocrats and later by political economists such as Adam Smith, David Ricardo, JS Mill and Herbert Spencer. But George carried their implications further than his predecessors and expressed them in unsurpassed prose and with compelling logic."
M.D. Herps, FAIV, DipLaw (BAB), FSLE. 27 May 1988 –Deputy Valuer-General New South Wales and valuation consultant to the Commonwealth Grants Commission

Over several decades, Winston Churchill and Lloyd George tried to promote Ricardo's theories, but the House Lords consistently rejected them–by narrow margins.

Professor Mason Gaffney's authorative "The Corruption of Economics" lays out the history of the suppression of classical economics in favour of neo-classical economics, –promoting real estate speculation and escalating land prices, which lead to repeated recessions.

English economics journalist Fred Harrison't book Ricardo's Law shows why the welfare state has not worked.
Click here to view Fred's short YouTube film:
Ricardo's Law ~ The Great Tax Clawback Scam