MANY, IF NOT ALL economists now agree that the fisc may tax away rent without impairing any economic function. It is only necessary that the tax be independent of landowner behavior.What is less widely understood is that not taxing rent obstructs its proper functioning. Untaxed landowners through the centuries have manifested a propensity for passive withdrawal that is simply too widespread to overlook and too well proven to document.
AJES 32(1): 17-34 (January 1973).
