Henry George Foundation of America Executive Director Joshua Vincent of Philadelphia, PA, reports land value taxation bills are introduced in Connecticut and Maryland as follows.
CONNECTICUT
The 2006 Connecticut Land Value Tax enabling bill, HB 5038, was reported out of the Planning and Development Committee March 17 on a 16-0-2 "Joint Favorable" vote. The bill is entitled, "An Act Concerning the Use of Eminent domain by Municipalities and Authorizing Municipalities to Establish Separate Rates of Taxation for Real Estate." On April 4 Josh Vincent emailed that the LVT Enabling Bill, HB 5038, is now out on both floors of the Connecticut Legislature. He says, "The fiscal notes and bill analysis are benign and correct, thanks to the Connecticut Legislative Services having a particularly competent and energetic staff led by John Rappa, investigating LVT." Section (H)(2) of the bill provides "authorizing municipalities to establish separate rates of taxation for real estate."
Opposition, Josh Vincent reports, is led by the Connecticut Business and Industrial Associations. The Connecticut Builders support HB 5038 and the Connecticut Municipalities support the split-rate provision of the bill but oppose the anti-eminent domain section.
MARYLAND
The 2006 House Bill 1552 is sponsored by Maryland Delegate Clarence Davis of East Baltimore, who is the chair of the Finance Resources Subcommittee of the Ways and Means Committee. HGFA Executive Director Joshua Vincent reports that when he and Walter Rybeck previously met with Delegate Davis they learned he already knew of Henry George and Land Value Taxation through Dr. Cripps of Morgan State University, from which Mr. Davis received his Masters Degree.
Entitled "Land Value Taxation -- Local Option for Baltimore City," the synopsis of HB 1552 is: "Establishing separate classes for property tax assessment purposes for land and improvements to land; requiring that the property tax rate in Baltimore city for improvements to land be less than or equal to the rate for land; requiring the property tax rates in Baltimore City applicable to specified property to bear specified relationships to the rate for improvements to land; authorizing the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore City to set a tax rate of zero for improvements to land, etc."
LAND REFORM ARTICLE IN TAMPA TRIBUNE INITIATED BY GERALD SCHLEICHER
Spreading the Georgist message one on one can be productive, but it is especially so if it is one Georgist talking to a news reporter.
Gerald Schleicher of Palm Harbor, FL initiated a contact with reporter Mark Beyer of The Suncoast News, published twice a week by the Tampa Tribune. Titled "Land Reform", it is subtitled, "If the land were to belong to all, who would benefit?" Schleicher is pictured holding soil in his hands and the caption quotes him: "Soil should not be owned by any one generation. Revenues from land usage fees can be the key to revitalization of cities, states and the entire country."
Referring to the nineteen 2-rate cities in Pennsylvania, whose local governing bodies have lowered the tax rate on buildings and applied the difference to the tax rate on land, the article says: "In other words, people and businesses now pay usage fees on the land, and would no longer suffer taxation on the buildings and dwellings that sit on the land."
The article also cities "how Alaska deals with oil companies. They do not own the land nor the oil, but instead pay the state of Alaska -- i.e., its people -- the privilege of using the land to explore and pump oil from beneath the soil."
The article concludes with listing the two websites of the Philadelphia based Henry George Foundation of America, www.henrygeorgefoundation.org, and The Center for the Study of Economics, www.urbantools.net.
SECOND ANNUAL AMI CONFERENCE TO BE HELD SEPT. 21-24
American Monetary Institute Director Stephen Zarlenga has announced that the second annual AMI Reform Conference will be held Thursday-Sunday, September 21-24, 2006. The conference will be held at Roosevelt University in Chicago, IL. (A write-up on the first annual AMI conference in 2005 was published in the January-February 2006 issue of GroundSwell.)
The 2006 conference will focus on (1) Monetary Reforms, including the monetary reform bill, the American Monetary Act, now being readied for introduction in Congress; (2) Achieving the Reforms, i.e., influencing public policy decisions, and (3) Using the Reforms. Using the Reforms will focus on how a properly reconstituted money power within a government will be used to "promote the general welfare", including Infrastructure Programs, Farming Parity proposals, Educational proposals, and Medical Care proposals.
The complete conference announcement, including the latest news on speakers and a registration form, is posted at http://www.monetary.org/2006_conference_announcement.htm.
Among confirmed speakers are names Georgists will recognize: Congressman Dennis Kucinich, The Lost Science of Money book author Stephen Zarlenga, Virginia Tech Professor Dr. Nicolaus Tideman, Henry George School of New York Director Dr. Cay Hehner, Saving Communities Director Dan Sullivan, and The Other Economic Summit organizer Professor Trent Schroyer.
Besides the AMI website, more information can also be obtained by writing Stephen Zarlenga, American Monetary Institute, P.O. Box 601, Valatie, NY 12184.