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ndrosenTo continue with Joshua Vincent’s talk on the morning of Wednesday, July 24, after discussing Allentown, he talked about the Henry George Foundation of America’s efforts in Philadelphia. Councilman Jimmy Tayoun understood and advocated land value taxation. Unfortunately, he also did things the Philadelphia way, for he went to federal prison (this was in 1988, or thereabouts). Then Mayor Goode bombed a neighborhood, where a radical group/cult called MOVE had a stronghold, and was making a real pest of itself to the neighbors. However, the bomb damaged other local homes and such, not just the MOVE headquarters, which made Goode unpopular.
In the 2000’s, there was another strong advocate for LVT, Jonathan Seidel. HGFA sent out letters to homeowners. The idea was to replace the wage tax and business privilege tax with land value taxation — not a new tax, but a replacement.
The City Council Meeting was packed with citizens who wanted to be heard, and mostly supported the proposal, but this was Philadelphia, so a point of parliamentary procedure was used to keep most of the people from talking.
There was a complaint to the IRS about the Henry George Foundation, a 501(c)(2) corporation, getting involved in politics. We won; the IRS said we hadn’t done anything wrong. But, as Ray Donovan, a Reagan cabinet member whom a grand jury did not indict, put it, “Where do I go to to get my reputation back?”
The HGFA ceased operations as such, and merged with the Center for the Study of Economics, a 501(c)(3) corporation, contributions to which are tax-deductible.
To be continued (the second half of the presentation being by Wyn Achenbaum, after Joshua Vincent’s part).
In the 2000’s, there was another strong advocate for LVT, Jonathan Seidel. HGFA sent out letters to homeowners. The idea was to replace the wage tax and business privilege tax with land value taxation — not a new tax, but a replacement.
The City Council Meeting was packed with citizens who wanted to be heard, and mostly supported the proposal, but this was Philadelphia, so a point of parliamentary procedure was used to keep most of the people from talking.
There was a complaint to the IRS about the Henry George Foundation, a 501(c)(2) corporation, getting involved in politics. We won; the IRS said we hadn’t done anything wrong. But, as Ray Donovan, a Reagan cabinet member whom a grand jury did not indict, put it, “Where do I go to to get my reputation back?”
The HGFA ceased operations as such, and merged with the Center for the Study of Economics, a 501(c)(3) corporation, contributions to which are tax-deductible.
To be continued (the second half of the presentation being by Wyn Achenbaum, after Joshua Vincent’s part).
