While I agree that land ownership is not the appropriate metric for measuring wealth as it was before the Industrial Revolution, land ownership and real estate speculation are two different things. The fractional reserve banking system relies on ever increasing consumer loans and debt. To be sustainable, loans must be made with increasing risk to people who aren’t qualified for the borrowed amount. The thirty year mortgage is the perfect vehicle for this inflated value as the bank gets real property collateral and has leverage as most people are borrowing for what is their family’s primary residence. After acquisition, the county, state, and city get their hands in your pockets too, asking for levy payments for public services and taxes. It’s a recipe to have all your earnings tied up in a home you can’t sell because you have to have a place to live. Meanwhile alternative housing is made unlawful, forcing those who cannot afford the price of admission into rental from wealthy landlords, where earnings are drained away without any gain in equity. I don’t know what the answer is, but the solution is not simple. In some ways I think a flat tax makes sense, but simple tax code and absolute enforcement is probably a good start. I know many very wealthy people and none of them pay a proportional tax burden to the working class people I know.