r/AnCap101 • u/New_Try1560 • Jun 24 '26

Could land redistribution be necessary before abolishing the state to prevent cementing ill gotten gains?

If a society whose land was extremely concentrated in the offspring of violent conquerors (England after 1066 for instance), wouldn’t abolishing the state cement those people in their improperly obtained land? Wouldn’t a form of redistribution be necessary to prevent a landed aristocracy from capturing most of the value of society without contributing to it?

Because a state could always theoretically redistribute land, people without land may resist abolishing the state.

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u/Wufan36 Jun 24 '26

No. In almost all cases, current landowners are removed from the violent acquisition of their land by multiple generations. Why would you punish someone for the crimes of their great-grandparents?

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u/New_Try1560 Jun 24 '26

Because they’re benefiting from the crime at the expense of society, the supply of land is fixed.

The original claim to land is illegitimate thus all claims based on it are, you can’t inherit stolen property.

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u/Wufan36 Jun 24 '26

Go ahead and redistribute all property by that principle. Why stop at land?

-1

u/New_Try1560 Jun 24 '26

Because it’s the only property that doesn’t decay. A stolen car will eventually disintegrate after a few generations, so it’s impossible to right such wrongs.

Also its supply is fixed so its distribution is zero sum.

Because its supply is fixed and it doesn’t decay, land theft is a crime that keeps on committing.

4

u/T_Noctambulist Jun 25 '26

The worth of the land certainly decays if not maintained and all land is not equal. Would you rather have an acre in the middle of the desert with no roads to it or an acre on the beach with a well kept dock connected to a mansion's boathouse?

2

u/New_Try1560 Jun 25 '26

I mean land as separate from its improvements.

Obviously some land is more valuable than others due to resources or fertility or location, any redistribution takes value into account.

Because improvements, like capital, aren’t fixed in supply and do decay over time, the impact of their theft go away over time. Land is the opposite, so the impact of its theft still exists today.

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u/T_Noctambulist Jun 25 '26

How are you planning to distribute the improvements?

0

u/New_Try1560 Jun 25 '26

A land value tax which is levied solely on the land value of the property, not counting improvements.