I lose confidence in the writing early on when it says this: > Instead, the government essentially "seizes" the added value by taxing its rental value away, eliminating the incentive to discover the oil in the first place.

If the tax is 100% of the value, sure. But left unstated is whether taxes are 100% of value. If taxes are 100% of value, there is no incentive to own the land in the first place, my $400,000 house costs me $400,000 in land tax to own... yearly?