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By Edward Peeks, Labor Writer
Re-Published from Charleston Daily Mail
A land rent tax is good for what ails the economic health of West Virginia,
according to property appraiser and single-tax advocate Carl F. Shaw of Mt.
Zion, Calhoun County.
He proposes again to the Legislature, as in the past, a tax on the rent of land,
not on the soil, he's quick to say.
"We are talking about collecting the rent, which is already there by virtue of
society's presence, expenditures for public improvements and economic
activities," Shaw said during an interview the other day in Charleston.
The single-tax program, he insists, would replace other taxes and, in effect,
would put to work a lot of idle land in the state, thus enhancing the value of
land. From that would come more capital investment, jobs and tax fairness.
"All vacant land whose owners have no development plans can be classified
as speculative land," Shaw said. "Speculators are owners who can pay land
taxes out of their pockets and never worry about laborers who can't find
work."
He said a land tax program that works in Pittsburgh and Scranton, Pa., is
based on Pennsylvania law dating back to 1925. It's called the Graded Tax
Plan, adopted by these two second-class cities, but not by 47 third-class cities
eligible under the law.
I asked Shaw why. He said there's opposition to the tax program all over and a
lot of misunderstanding. "It takes time for people to catch on," he said.
His packet of information, nonetheless, suggests that the land tax plan has
had a slow crawl in the industrialized world since it was introduced in the late
18th century by English economist David Ricardo.
Later, American economist Henry George championed similar taxation, which
is kept alive today as an alternative tax by the Henry George Foundation.
Shaw proposes phasing in his single-tax program in West Virginia over a
15-year period. The phase-in calls for a two-rate property tax to start, one rate
on improvements or buildings, and the other on land. The latter will be the
higher of the two during the course of the program.
Changes are made gradually under the plan that would become effective
January 2006 and fully implemented in 2021.
Landowners who prove financial hardship will be allowed to defer tax payment,
"until the owner gets into better condition, dies or sells the property," the
proposal says.
"West Virginia is about fourth in the nation in natural resources," it notes,
saying that, "It seems that most of the current taxes levied on resources are
severance-type taxes, based on production, rather than site. These two types
of taxation have diametrically opposite economic effects. Taxing the site will
stimulate production."
The proposal asks for a legislation study this year and a decision on whether
the plan requires a vote by the people to put in place in 2006.
Shaw doubtless proves that the idea for a land tax is still alive and kicking in
West Virginia and other states as well. It has believers â whatever their
numbers â who won't let the idea go away.
"For generations, we have allowed landowners to buy and hold valuable
parcels for very low land taxes, an investment strategy open only to a few,"
Shaw told me.
Check the Charleston Daily Mail online.
- Carl Shaw is a resident of the Village of Hur.
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