The new A.I. application ChatGPT can be queried in natural language and will return an answer, usually in a few seconds.
Here is how it responded on Land Value Taxation:
What are the benefits of land value taxation?
Land value taxation is a type of tax that is based on the value of the land itself, rather than on the value of any buildings or improvements that are on the land. This type of tax has several potential benefits.
First, because land value taxation is based on the value of the land itself, rather than on the value of any improvements that are made to the land, it provides an incentive for landowners to put their land to its most productive use. This can help to promote economic development and increase overall economic activity.
Second, because land value taxation is not based on the value of any buildings or improvements that are made to the land, it does not create a disincentive for landowners to invest in their property. This can help to encourage property owners to maintain and improve their land, which can help to improve the overall quality of the built environment.
Third, because land value taxation is based on the value of the land itself, it can help to reduce inequality. Because the value of land tends to increase over time, taxing land can help to redistribute wealth from those who own land to the broader community. This can help to create a more equitable society.
Overall, land value taxation can help to promote economic development, encourage property owners to maintain and improve their land, and reduce inequality.
ChatGPT uses publicly available information, gleaned from the internet, so it’ll naturally incorporate those arguments for LVT that have been used by proponents over the years; ChatGPT is only updated through 2021 and does not have real-time access to the internet, so it may miss the most recent announcements, arguments or news.
You can read more about ChatGPT itself on their site: https://chat.openai.com/chat or in many articles, including this one in the New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/05/technology/chatgpt-ai-twitter.html. But be warned, over a million people have signed up already in ChatGPT’s first week, and accessing it during busy days can lead to failures to answer or being told to “slow down” when the server gets overwhelmed. Unlike the Times article, ChatGPT is not behind a paywall and is free to use for now, while the researchers fine-tune the responses, meaning your queries will be retained and used for further research.
Land Value Taxation has some of the longest and deepest research of any economic theory, going back to even before Henry George, but it’s good to check in with A.I. once in a while to see the wisdom of the crowds, and perhaps for palatable phrasing to convince newbies and some critics of its value. ChatGPT represents the low hanging fruit of reasoning, however, and as deeper details are needed, it may not perform as well, or might even lead to erroneous results, says the Times article. ChatGPT has been manually modified to remove the most offensive results, but it is not fact-checked. Use with caution.