A group of Nobel Laureate economists co-signed an open letter sent to Gorbachev in 1990 advocating a land value tax, urging Russia not to follow the Western economies in the "danger" of allowing most of the rent of land to be collected privately. Co-signers included Robert Solow, James Tobin, William Vickrey, and William Baumol.

They write: "...there is a danger that you will adopt features of our [Western] economies that keep us from being as prosperous as we might be. In particular, there is a danger that you may follow us in allowing most of the rent of land to be collected privately. It is important that the rent of land be retained as a source of government revenue. While the governments of developed nations with market economies collect some of the rent of land in taxes, they do not collect nearly as much as they could, and they therefore make unnecessarily great use of taxes that impede their economies - taxes on such things as incomes, sales, and the value of capital."