# Locke, Private Property, & Proper Taxation

## Private Property and Proper Taxation¶

There is some useful aggregate value of land held in common, $C$. Let us imagine $C$ to be some amount of naturally occuring food in an acre of wilderness -- e.g. 5 meals worth per year. If this were not collected by anyone, this would not be actualized, and potentially this land could result in 0 meals per year. Imagine an individual came to this acre and cultivated it, so that it produced 500 meals each year (a gain of 100, let's call this productivity boost $B$).

! TODO: cost of labor and capital input

Conceiving of all men as bretheren, the increase to the sum of all persons is 495 meals -- in that frame of analysis, a great gain has been had. But also, the value of the land in common has decreased by 5 meals per year. Imagine we can know for certain that those meals would have been collected -- then it is proper for the individual to pay at least 5 meals per year in taxes back into the common stock -- or $C$ back, for an effective income tax of $\frac{C}{CB} = \frac{1}{B}$.

Imagine another resource -- oil. The oil is not much more valuable out of the ground than in the ground; therefore, sensibly, the taxes should be proportionate. Here, the productivity boost is likely to be on the order of $20\%$ or so -- that would imply an effective income tax of $\frac{1}{1.2} = 83\%$.

Alternatively, instead of a percentage tax, there could be a property tax equal to $C$, not dependent on $B$ at all.

! should this tax be owed if production is below C?

### Taxation in a Crowded Environment -- min tax is $C$¶

! opportunity cost of another using the land -- determined by effectively a lottery where the tax is increased until some land is unused (or, more efficiently? until profits in the industry normalize)

! is the proper role of government to be an auction for land? what other concerns? for community, minimize switching costs

! but this tax should be differential to different kinds of land

! incentivizing innovation when the government attempts to approach equilibrium of this sort ???

! sunk cost, business uncertainty, switching costs

plans, anger

possession, care

### Taxation of Intellectual Labor¶

first mover should get massive tax reduction? that way you don't need to protect the IP

### Ownership versus Predictable Usability¶

Usability includes availabililty and also maintenance / care

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