> Tragically this would cause most land in the US to have zero or negative market value, leading to massive distortions and trillions of dollars of wealth destruction
Would it though? Nothing is actually destroyed. The land is still there so it's basically just a redistribution. Why not issue some bonds to existing land owners or something as compensation? That's what Britain did when they made slavery illegal? It might delay the benefits to the state by a few decades, but well worth it to fix incentives I would think...
If we said an acre of land in New York City is only worth $14,000 and an acre of land in middle of nowhere North Dakota was equally worth $14,000 that it wouldn’t have some kind of distortionary effect?
Would it though? Nothing is actually destroyed. The land is still there so it's basically just a redistribution. Why not issue some bonds to existing land owners or something as compensation? That's what Britain did when they made slavery illegal? It might delay the benefits to the state by a few decades, but well worth it to fix incentives I would think...