The IU
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| Founded | 1926 |
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| Website | http://www.theIU.org |
The IU, in full the International Union for Land Value Taxation, is an international umbrella organisation for land value tax reformers. It has members in 35 countries around the world - activists, politicians, professionals and academics, and some 70 national and local organisations. The IU enjoys Special Consultative Status at the United Nations.
The objectives of the IU are "to stimulate in all countries a public opinion favourable to permanent peace and prosperity for all people, through the progressive removal of the basic economic causes of poverty and war". The IU's work is guided by principles of equal freedom and sharing of common resources of community and nature - ideas most cogently set out in modern times in the writings of the 19th-century American reformer Henry George. Specifically, towards the realisation of its objectives, the IU "favours the raising of public revenues by public collection of the rental value of land apart from improvements"; and, further, favours "the abolition of taxes, tariffs, or imposts of every sort that interfere with the free production and exchange of wealth". Following from those principles the IU advances a radical land and fiscal reform agenda and 'real' free trade (i.e. that does not privilege Western corporate interests). The principal policies advocated by the IU are the public collection of 'resource rents' and land value taxation, in lieu of traditional taxation.
The IU is governed by an Executive Committee of officers including Vice-Presidents from each sovereign state with significant representation within the membership, and other members. The IU is funded mainly by members' subscriptions, donations and legacies. The IU's work is supported by voluntary effort.
The IU was founded at an international conference held in Denmark in 1926. The conference was attended by some 500 delegates, all advocates of the ideas of Henry George. In 1992 the IU was accredited to the United Nations as a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO). In 2003 it was granted Special Consultative Status by the UN's Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), which widened the scope of its engagement and influence in United Nations' processes. The IU retains 12 UN representatives who serve the world organisation's offices in New York, Geneva, Addis Ababa, Bangkok and Santiago.
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