Collaborative Proposal Creation
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Proposal text
The Green Party of Canada believes that all people have equal rights to nature.
To deliver these rights, a Green government will shift away from conventional taxation. Instead, it will enact resource pricing (like carbon pricing) that minimizes - and compensates the public for - pollution, resource extraction, and land use.
Type of Proposal
Public policy that the party would represent
Objective / Benefit
Conventional land law has created a vicious cycle of worsening inequality as landowners collect rent which they don't create, which empowers them to buy even more land, thus concentrating ever more land in ever fewer hands. This could be fixed by capturing rent and redistributing it to society.
Furthermore, most existing taxes - like income, business, and sales taxes - inhibit beneficial economic activity.
After replacing those taxes with taxes on land, natural resources, and pollution, more wealth will be produced using less land, fewer natural resources, and less pollution.
It all starts with declaring that Earth is humanity's common wealth.
If your proposal replaces an existing policy or policies, which one does it replace?
The first four paragraphs of G10-P002 Green Tax Reform. To replace the fifth paragraph of G10-P002, see Financial Incentives for Ecological Restoration: Financial Incentives for Ecological Restoration
List any supporting evidence for your proposal
🔰Common Wealth Canada, an organization which advocates for these policies: https://www.commonwealth.ca/ (External link)
🔰Projected benefits of this tax shift in the EU, including increased employment and reduced carbon emissions - https://ex-tax.com/taxshift/ (External link)
🔰"How Low Taxes Lead To High Home Prices In Vancouver, BC: And how taxing land value can cool speculation and unlock affordability" - https://www.sightline.org/2022/05/09/how-low-taxes-lead-to-high-home-prices-in-vancouver-bc/ (External link)
🔰Other Green and environmentalist organizations' existing endorsements of similar ideas - https://commonground-usa.net/14320-2/ (External link)
🔰"Post-Corona balanced budget fiscal stimulus: The case for shifting taxes onto land" - https://cepr.org/voxeu/columns/post-corona-balanced-budget-fiscal-stimulus-case-shift
Henry George Foundation of Canada https://earthsharing.ca/page/about-us
Does this proposal affect any particular group and what efforts have been made to consult with the group or groups?
N/A
Jurisdiction: Is this proposal under federal jurisdiction?
Yes
Please indicate the language the proposal is being submitted in.
English
This proposal is being evaluated
Posted on the Continuous Motion Development Vote tab for member review prior to the all-member vote.
Amendments (1)
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Created at
04/07/2024 -
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Conversation with Catherine Jones
The GPC stopped using Whereas and Be It Resolved language approx 5 years ago, therefore recommend considering the removal of these clauses from the proposal. An example of how you could consider removing this language is:
The GPC recognizes nature as the equal birthright of all people. Therefore, the GPC will replace taxes on beneficial economic activity with taxes which compensate the public for occupation, use, and degradation of the public's natural resources (also known as rent capture), including land and ecosystems.
If you agree with any amendments suggested by members or Proposal Shepherds, please edit the proposal to reflect those language changes.
While I agree with the core idea of the resolution, ( sharing the commons of planet earth) I can not figure out how a land tax would work. Taxing resource extraction and use I can see. I e the most efficient( not in fiscal terms ) economy ,which uses the least resources for a desired outcome would be rewarded. A carbon tax would fit into this scheme as would be rewarding farmers, who mange to increase carbon content in the soil.
We already have a land tax hidden in the property tax, which taxes both land and buildings at the same rate. Thus, the infrastructure to assess land value is already in place.
As you point out, a tax system based on land value tax and taxes on other natural resources would reward those who use the least resources to reach desired outcomes - very Green indeed. You are also correct that Pigouvian taxes and subsidies like carbon pricing and subsidies for carbon sequestration fit into this scheme. Originally there was a companion proposal focusing on the subsidy side of things, but it didn't make it to the second round of the policy process.
Thanks, Sibylle, for your great comments. The word "land" is a catch-all for land, resources and pollution. The idea is that governments should capture economic rent instead of using dead-weight taxes on jobs, business and sales. Economic rent is revenue with no corresponding cost of production, revenue that should be captured by gov to finance programs. Rent is also called superprofits, royalties, unearned income, citizens dividend. There's lots of info online about this. Enjoy, frank
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