ABSTRACT
Land reform has come to be a term of a bewildering variety of interpretations. In some cases 'land reform' and 'agrarian reform' are used as straight alternatives; in other cases careful distinctions are drawn. Land reform, the traditional term, always meant the redistribution of property in land for the benefit of landless workers, tenants and small farmers. Most land reforms occur in situations where great disparities in wealth, income and power exist in agriculture. The political motive is sometimes omitted and often played down in discussion on land reform, yet in the last resort is often the most decisive. If political stability is assured, however, attention may be concentrated on measures for increasing agricultural productivity. The term land reform, being a magnetic word in the political lexicon, tends to pick up any and all schemes for rural improvement that are put forward. Like land reform, tax reform is very much a political issue at base.
