Resolution on Sharing the Commons

Proposal text

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.

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