Georgist Registry Annual Report

Common Ground - USA

A 501(c)(4) organization, the Purpose of Common Ground-USA is: "Common Ground-USA is dedicated to the principle that all persons have equal and common rights in the earth and its resources and each individual has an exclusive right to the income from his or her own labor and capital investment. We are also dedicated to support and improve the free market, including purchase, ownership, and sale of real estate. Therefore, we are committed to reducing and replacing taxes on labor and capital. We propose to pay for essential government services by adequate taxation of the value of land and other natural resources. We also propose fees for pollution, resource extraction, and use of the public commons. We believe these changes will increase total wealth and equality of opportunity, thereby improving the quality of life for all individuals and the functioning of government."

Membership dues to Common Ground-USA are $36 annually and include the every other month GroundSwell newsletter, 4 Letter Lobby kits a year, chapter membership where available, the right to vote for at-large directors, and receiving the minutes of the annual Board of Directors meeting. GroundSwell only may be subscribed to for $15 a year.

The Board of Directors meets the day prior at the same location as the Council of Georgist Organizations annual conference. The Board is composed of 12 directors elected at large and the chairman or designee of each of the eight chapters. Common Ground-USA's eight chapters are OR/Wash., So. Calif., St. Louis, BCCI, Pittsburgh, Metro DC/VA,, Metro NYC and Ontario/Montreal. Of the 157 active entries in the CGUSA database, 73 members are affiliated with chapters, of which 7 are special members. Each chapter is allowed to grant two free national memberships for a year. Persons not affiliated with chapters are members-at-large.

Besides the popular Insights regular feature and the Write On reprints of letters to the editor, GroundSwell also publishes presentations made at conferences, reports of other conferences attended, legislative activity, articles of special relevance, book reviews, and obituaries of prominent Georgists.

Activities: The national project of Common Ground-USA has been to get one state (Vermont is proposed) to make the transition from the current tax structure to rely on land value tax revenues and related fees. The ground work that Bill Batt has done on the Common Ground-USA project in Vermont follows Common Ground having adopted this as our national project after Marion Sapiro proposed it in 2000. Data is still being accumulated.

Common Ground-USA is working to attract new members through our web site through placement of ads in magazines. This year ads are being placed in the Utne Reader. In prior years ads were placed in The Progressive, Liberty and UUWorld.

Our members have received Letter Lobby legislative action kits on the Save Our Climate Act, the Tax Carbon Dioxide Emissions legislation, the Internet Tax Freedom Act Amendments, and the Act to Move the US toward Greater Energy Independence.

Local activity is carried out in Common Ground-USA's eight chapters. The Pittsburgh, PA chapter, chaired by Dr. Herbert Barry III, activities included membership recruitment, giving books to local officials, and letters to the editor. The Metro DC/MD/VA chapter, chaired by Paul Gagnon, activities included membership recruitment, providing material to local officials, and letters to the editor. The Ontario/Quebec chapter, chaired by John Fisher, activities included working through the Green Party of Ontario which has adopted Georgist property tax shift principles, working on Tax Shift studies, and working with First Nations. The Oregon/ Washington chapter, chaired by Jeff Smith is working on legislation in Oregon. The Metro New York City chapter, chaired by Rita Rowan, maintains a web site for public relations on unfair property tax assessments. The St. Louis chapter, with Pres. Al Lubin and Treas. Al Katzenberger, works with their sibling organization, Public Revenue Education Council. They annually host an education booth at the National Conference of State Legislatures. The Better Cities Committee of Illinois (Metro Chicago Chapter) is chaired by Sue Walton. They attend conferences and government meetings and forums and have a web page. The Southern California chapter is chaired by Marion Sapiro. Dr. Mason Gaffney, who researches and writes Insights, chairs the Common Ground-USA national project and cooperates closely with Dr. Bill Batt and Gary Flo in continuing to gather assessment information relative to the state of Vermont. Chapter member Will Frambach has continued to compile Georgist articles and publications onto a compact disk which is now virtually a complete encyclopedia of Georgist literature.