Friedrich Hayek

Fred E. Foldvary — The Ultimate Tax Reform: Public Revenue from Land Rent

Friedrich Hayek was ambivalent about using rent for public finance. Hayek was first inspired to study economics after being exposed to Georgist ideas. He thought using rent for public finances is a good idea if the land value could be separated from the value of the improvements, which in practice can be and is done by professional assessors and appraisers, as discussed above.28 Hayek regarded any tax as inherently socialist, but he regarded a tax on rent as the least-bad “socialist” tax. ... read the whole document