They are taxed, but I think they could be taxed more and better. Specifically, this community – as the name [email protected] suggests – is about implementing a land value tax. It’s also part of a broader economic philosophy, Georgism, that seeks to eliminate monopolism and rent-seeking to create a fairer and more prosperous economy. Land value taxes (LVT) are one of the most central proposed policies of Georgism, although Georgists also advocate for carbon taxes (and other taxes on negative externalities), severance taxes on finite natural resources like oil or minerals. In addition, intellectual property (IP) reform and eliminating barriers to entry are valued. (It should be noted that Georgists want to replace bad/inefficient taxes like sales, income, and property taxes with LVT, externality (aka Pigouvian), and severance taxes.)

As for why LVT? In short, it’s just a really good tax. Progressive, widely regarded by economists as “the perfect tax”, incentivizes efficient use of land, discourages speculation and rent-seeking, economically efficient, and hard to evade. Plus, critically regarding landlords, land value taxes can’t be passed on to tenants, both in economic theory and in observed practice.

There’s also a lot more information and links in the sidebar of the community, as well as a number of videos and articles previously posted here.

(The logo on the pin and the hat in the meme are one of the logos of Georgism.)