ndrosen

There were beets for sale at the farmers’ market last weekend, so I planned on buying some this weekend, and making borshch. I bought soy yogurt at Whole Foods, and potatoes at Giant Food, and then looked for beets at the farmers’ market today, but none of the vendors had them, although I was told that there would likely be beets next weekend.

The potatoes should last for over a week, and the soy yogurt should be okay in the refrigerator. Meanwhile, I’ll make other things for dinner this week.

J.D. Tuccille had a piece in Reason the other day about Florida’s grassroots revolt against property taxes, discussing a number of points, so that you don’t have to be a Georgist to be interested. Among other things, the article quotes Jared Walczak of the Tax Foundation: ”It is axiomatic that whatever you tax, you get less of,” he adds. “Taxing income means less income-producing labor and investment, for instance. But because land is an immobile asset, taxing property does less to distort market decisions than taxing income or even sales.”

Right, and this point applies to land in particular. Buildings may be fairly immobile as well, but a high property tax on buildings is likely to make people build less, and over time, result in the supply of housing, and of factories, shops, office space, etc. be lower than it would otherwise be in a jurisdiction with high building taxes. Taxing land does not reduce the supply of land at all.

Tuccille’s article also addresses the point that having to pay property taxes makes people feel that they do not really own their homes, but are de facto renters, which is true. Henry George created an obstacle to the success of the single tax movement by stating, “We must make land common property.” He proceeded to explain that he did not propose to interfere with land titles, but to make the public the effective owner by taxing the rental value of land.

I believe that people should not have to pay property taxes on their houses, buildings, or other improvements; I also point out that while the property tax makes the government the effective partial owner of property, an income tax or sales tax makes the government the partial owner of human beings or their legitimate property. An income or payroll tax means that someone cannot keep what he earns by his own labor, and is therefore not the full owner of himself; he is to some degree enserfed. A sales tax means that someone cannot spend the money he has earned on his own needs and wants without making a payment to the government. The property tax, even on buildings, is not a worse infringement on people’s rights than these other taxes.

And now to stop posting, and start working.

I have my disagreements with Amy Acton’s political agenda, but I responded to the appalling ad shown by Vivek Ramasmarmy’s campaign by making an online donation, split between Ms. Acton’s gubernatorial campaign in Ohio and a Democratic candidate in my own state of Virginia.

I have received another amendment, and now have five cases on my Amended docket. I posted last week that I had five cases on my Amended docket, and I haven’t done any Office Actions on amendments, so I may have been confused, or else something weird happened.

I’m still working on a jumbo Office Action on my oldest Regular New application, which I really want to finish by midnight Saturday. I’ll make it somehow.

Wednesday evening, I stopped at Barnes & Noble to pick up two copies of Stephanie Slade’s new book, Fusionism, which I look forward to reading. Today, I gave blood at a bloodmobile parked outside the Patent and Trademark Office, with the aid of a phlebotomist named Stefani, so I mentioned Stephanie Slade and her book. As Stefani hadn’t heard of Stephanie, I said that she was a writer and public intellectual. The phlebotomist didn’t seem all that interested.

Ilya Somin, a law professor and libertarian, isn’t exactly an anti-Fusionist (Fusionism, in this context, means being in favor of both liberty and virtue), but he does have some comments about the current political situation and the limits of Fusionism.

There’s an article in Reason about the great British exodus, meaning that substantial numbers of striving young adults in Great Britain are immigrating for a variety of reasons. One major reason mentioned is high housing costs, and another is high income taxes. There are other issues as well, such as dissatisfaction with National Health; granted that we have our problems on this side of the pond, Americans who want the government to take over all medical care should read about one British woman’s experience with socialized health care.

But then, there are housing costs and income taxes. There may be multiple reasons for unaffordable housing, but one is that the rates (real estate taxes) are rather low, and fall largely on buildings, not land, so owning a house and lot in London, its suburbs, or some other area where there job opportunities and the prospect of a pleasant lifestyle, is a good deal for those who already own, but a nearly unattainable goal for a young couple who aren’t rich. They will also have to pay high rents for a quite modest apartment, and the high income tax stands in the way of their attempts to save enough money for a home.

Cutting the income tax while imposing a land value tax to deflate the sky-high prices prevailing for land would not solve all problems, but it could make homes more affordable for young Britons who are now seeking opportunities in Dubai, Serbia, or the United States.

Earlier this week, I finished an Office Action on an aging amendment; two new amendments have appeared on my Amended docket, so the total is now five.

I have also been working on my oldest Regular New application, but I haven’t finished it by any means.

Tuesday evening, I made chocolate chip cookies, and they turned out well. I also made chickpea-lentil tagine with sweet potatoes and other vegetables for dinner, and expect to finish the batch tonight.

Two new amendments appeared on my docket of amendments this week, raising the total to five. I finished an Office Action on one of my oldest amendments on Thursday, October 1, making it the first Office Action of Fiscal Year 2027. I have since been working on the other of my oldest amendments; I now have a total of four.

I also finished a first Office Action on a Regular New application back on Tuesday, and posted a Notice of Abandonment on a rejected application on Wednesday, so these apply to the previous Fiscal Year. Next biweek, I will have at least one designated Regular New application to work on, in addition to my amendments.

The Fiscal Year ended on Wednesday, September thirtieth. I finished a first action on my oldest Regular New application on Tuesday, and posted it for credit. On Wednesday, I confirmed that no response had been filed in an application which I had rejected more than six months earlier. That put me over the top; if my calculations are correct, I’m at just over 100% of production for Fiscal Year 2026.

And I have started on the next Fiscal Year. I worked at the Patent Office campus in Carlyle on Thursday, departed after eight PM, arrived home well after nine, took a major nap, and ate a late dinner.