A tax on improvements is always passed on to renters, but a tax on the unimproved value of land cannot be passed on, because the land rent is a pure economic rent.<p>&quot;A tax upon ground-rents would not raise the rents of houses. It would fall altogether upon the owner of the ground-rent, who acts always as a monopolist, and exacts the greatest rent which can be got for the use of his ground.&quot;<p>– Adam Smith, Wealth of Nations<p>&quot;A tax on rent would affect rent only; it would fall wholly on landlords, and could not be shifted to any class of consumers. The landlord could not raise his rent, because he would leave unaltered the difference between the produce obtained from the least productive land in cultivation, and that obtained from land of every quality.&quot;<p>– David Ricardo, On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation