In the same way as for luxury goods, taxes on rents have no effect on prices or the distribution of income. The meaning of Sraffa’s laconic remark on the possible dependence of the rate of profit on the rate of interest may be less elusive today.
With the globalization of financial markets, the rate of profit must be correlated with and is certainly powerfully influenced by the level of interest rates established in the international money market. Classical models can be extended along the lines developed by von Neumann to the link between the interest rate and the rate of growth.