Economists say there is no 'Silver Bullet' -- but with such wealth in the world, why are so many still so poor?
Face it. The world is no closer to consigning poverty to history. Why is there still poverty from whole countries of the poor South, to the back streets, slums and trailer parks of the rich West? The good intentions, the money, the rhetoric, the pity and the media histrionics are but pinpricks to a world-rampaging monster. They say there is no silver bullet.
Neither Geldof or Bono, nor the United Nations, nor the vast assembled hosts of international aid and development agencies have the answer.
Doesn't every citizen of the world have an equal right to the good life? With so much wealth in the world, why are so many of us so poor, when we could rid ourselves of this monster? And the fact is, there is only one way to kill poverty...
Free Ebook: http://www.theiu.org/tsb/TheSilverBullet.pdf
"Land cannot be treated as an ordinary asset, controlled by individuals and subject to the pressures and inefficiencies of the market. Private land ownership is also a principal instrument of accumulation and concentration of wealth and therefore contributes to social injustice; if unchecked, it may become a major obstacle in the planning and implementation of development schemes.
The provision of decent dwellings and healthy conditions for the people can only be achieved if land is used in the interests of society as a whole. Public control of land use is therefore indispensable..."
- UN-Habitat, pg 180
So to summarize this solution, the idea is to tax land instead of personal income. Land should be accessible to all. Un-used land should be given freely to those who will use it. Because land would be taxed higher (replacing the income tax), this would discourage rich land-owners from hoarding large amounts of land, especially if it was not currently in use. Currently such practices are common because it is cheap to 'sit on' a vacant property until land-values go up and the land can be sold at a high profit.
In a reformed model, the social benefit of land would belong to all - this means that those that use land would pay a tax for its use, and this tax would be used to benefit society in some direct way, such as the funding of free public services. - Ed