I don't think I've moved goalposts -- maybe just failed to articulate my concern precisely. (And only skimmed the article you linked.)
If the government purchases real estate with its own money and later sells it--fine by me. They have business to take care of and need places to do it.
What bothers me specifically would be a growing federal or state government stake in assets owned by others by virtue of a tax law that grants them such ownership.
I imagine whole swaths of businesses, apartments, and other buildings in cities across the US that are >50% owned by the government 40 years from now.
It would push us a lot closer to a world where people don't own anything anymore besides their own houses (maybe not even that) and the government owns everything.
If the government purchases real estate with its own money and later sells it--fine by me. They have business to take care of and need places to do it.
What bothers me specifically would be a growing federal or state government stake in assets owned by others by virtue of a tax law that grants them such ownership.
I imagine whole swaths of businesses, apartments, and other buildings in cities across the US that are >50% owned by the government 40 years from now.
It would push us a lot closer to a world where people don't own anything anymore besides their own houses (maybe not even that) and the government owns everything.