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88-645: Daniel Carter " Uncle Dan " Beard (June 21, 1850 – June 11, 1941) was an American illustrator, author, youth leader, Georgist and social reformer who founded the Sons of Daniel Boone in 1905, which Beard later merged with the Boy Scouts of America (BSA). Beard was born in Cincinnati , Ohio, into a family of artists. As a youth in Painesville , he explored the woods and made sketches of nature. His father

176-651: A land value tax (LVT). Some modern proponents are dissatisfied with the name Georgist . While Henry George was well known throughout his life, he has been largely forgotten by the public and the idea of a single tax of land predates him. Some now prefer the term geoism , with geo (from Greek γῆ gē "earth, land") being the first compound of the name George < (Gr.) Geōrgios < geōrgos "farmer" or geōrgia "agriculture, farming" < gē + ergon "work" deliberately ambiguous. The terms Earth Sharing , geonomics and geolibertarianism are also used by some Georgists. These terms represent

264-470: A 100% Georgist tax would destroy the incentive to search for natural resources and discover optimal locations for businesses, as the additional profits that would result from such discoveries would lead to a corresponding increase in the unimproved value of the land, and so be taxed away. Culver Academies Culver Academies is a college preparatory boarding school located in Culver, Indiana , which

352-417: A Georgist club in that city established in 1890. Years later, in his capacity as a city alderman, he was selected to serve as Houston Tax Commissioner, and promulgated a "Houston Plan of Taxation" in 1912. Improvements to land and merchants' inventories were taxed at 25 percent of the appraised value, unimproved land was taxed at 70 percent of appraisal, and personal property was exempt. This was calculated using

440-419: A conservation strategy, but they emphasize different aspects. Conservation is the central issue of ecology, whereas economic rent is the central issue of geoism. Ecological economists might price pollution fines more conservatively to prevent inherently unquantifiable damage to the environment, whereas Georgists might emphasize mediation between conflicting interests and human rights . Geolibertarianism ,

528-460: A country where land titles have already been granted. Georgists have observed that privately created wealth is socialized via the tax system (e.g., through income and sales tax ), while socially created wealth in land values are privatized in the price of land titles and bank mortgages. The opposite would be the case if land rents replaced taxes on labor as the main source of public revenue ; socially created wealth would become available for use by

616-586: A difference of emphasis and sometimes real differences about how land rent should be spent ( citizen's dividend or just replacing other taxes), but they all agree that land rent should be recovered from its private recipients. Compulsory fines and fees related to land rents are the most common Georgist policies, but some geoists prefer voluntary value capture systems that rely on methods such as non-compulsory or self-assessed location value fees, community land trusts and purchasing land value covenants . Some geoists believe that partially compensating landowners

704-406: A high land value tax would cause people "to contribute to the public, not in proportion to what they produce ... but in proportion to the value of natural [common] opportunities that they hold [monopolize]". He went on to explain that "by taking for public use that value which attaches to land by reason of the growth and improvement of the community", it would, "make the holding of land unprofitable to

792-428: A land value tax would cause the purchase price of land to decrease. George did not believe landowners should be compensated and described the issue as being analogous to compensation for former slave owners. Other geoists disagree on the question of compensation; some advocate complete compensation while others endorse only enough compensation required to achieve Georgist reforms. Some geoists advocate compensation only for

880-559: A land-value tax. Following the 2008 Recession and city's 2013 bankruptcy , speculators bought cheap property, expecting to profit from the city's recovery. This plan to shift the cost of municipal services to owners of empty land, while exempting community gardens and parks, will require approval from the Michigan Legislature and Detroit City Council before being added as a ballot measure for Detroit residents. Various organizations still exist that continue to promote

968-505: A market-oriented branch of Geoism, tends to take a direct stance against what it perceives as burdensome regulation and would like to see auctioned pollution quotas or taxes replace most command and control regulation . Since ecologists are primarily concerned with conservation, they tend to emphasize less the issue of equitably distributing scarcity/pollution rents , whereas Georgists insist that unearned income not accrue to those who hold title to natural assets and pollution privilege. To

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1056-419: A means of raising public revenue is also a progressive tax tending to reduce economic inequality , since it applies entirely to ownership of valuable land, which is correlated with income, and there is generally no means by which landlords can shift the tax burden onto tenants or laborers. Landlords are unable to pass the tax on to tenants because the supply and demand of rented land is unchanged. Because

1144-430: A modern Georgist severance tax . Other contemporaries such as Austrian economist Frank Fetter and neoclassical economist John Bates Clark argued that it was impractical to maintain the traditional distinction between land and capital and used this as a basis to attack Georgism. Mark Blaug , a specialist in the history of economic thought, credits Fetter and Clark with influencing mainstream economists to abandon

1232-494: A monthly column for youth. He founded the Sons of Daniel Boone in 1905, basing it on American frontier traditions. He later moved his column to Woman's Home Companion . After conflicts with a new editor, he moved to the Pictorial Review . Since Women's Home Companion retained the rights to the name, he simply renamed the organization to Boy Pioneers of America . Beard was a longstanding and influential member of

1320-520: A negative dead-weight loss that boosts productivity. Because land value tax would apply to foreign land speculators, the Australian Treasury estimated that land value tax was unique in having a negative marginal excess burden, meaning that it would increase long-run living standards. It was Adam Smith who first noted the efficiency and distributional properties of a land value tax in his book The Wealth of Nations . Ground-rents are

1408-515: A net loss due to a shift of taxation to land value; most taxpayers would gain from the replacement of other taxes with a tax on land value. Historically, those who advocated for taxes on rent tax only great enough to replace other taxes were known as endorsers of single tax limited . Most early advocacy groups described themselves as single taxers and George reluctantly accepted the single tax as an accurate name for his main political goal—the repeal of all unjust or inefficient taxes, to be replaced with

1496-442: A part of this revenue should be taken from him in order to defray the expenses of the state, no discouragement will thereby be given to any sort of industry. The annual produce of the land and labour of the society, the real wealth and revenue of the great body of the people, might be the same after such a tax as before. Ground-rents and the ordinary rent of land are, therefore, perhaps, the species of revenue which can best bear to have

1584-405: A particular spot of ground at a greater or smaller expense. In every country the greatest number of rich competitors is in the capital, and it is there accordingly that the highest ground-rents are always to be found. As the wealth of those competitors would in no respect be increased by a tax upon ground-rents, they would not probably be disposed to pay more for the use of the ground. Whether the tax

1672-481: A peculiar tax imposed upon them. ... Nothing can be more reasonable than that a fund which owes its existence to the good government of the state should be taxed peculiarly, or should contribute something more than the greater part of other funds, towards the support of that government. Benjamin Franklin and Winston Churchill made similar distributional and efficiency arguments for taxing land rents. They noted that

1760-561: A proper social function, which should be controlled and managed by and for the whole people concerned." Georgists were divided by this question of natural monopolies and often favored public ownership only of the rents from common rights-of-way , rather than public ownership of utility companies themselves. The early conservationism of the Progressive Era was inspired partly by Henry George , and his influence extended for decades afterward. Some ecological economists still support

1848-425: A scene shop, dance studio, and private dance studio. Culver Academies was expanded with the addition of the 47,000 sq. ft. Huffington Library on October 1, 1993. The building provides a southern terminus to the academic quadrangle while affording library patrons a view of Lake Maxinkuckee . It houses a collection of approximately 55,000 volumes and the academies' information technology resources. Henderson Arena

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1936-423: A still more proper subject of taxation than the rent of houses. 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. More or less can be got for it according as the competitors happen to be richer or poorer, or can afford to gratify their fancy for

2024-416: A tendency toward boom-and-bust cycles. According to George, people justly own what they create, but natural opportunities and land belong equally to all. The tax upon land values is, therefore, the most just and equal of all taxes. It falls only upon those who receive from society a peculiar and valuable benefit, and upon them in proportion to the benefit they receive. It is the taking by the community, for

2112-493: A three or four percent tax on land values would fit this condition. After implementing land taxes, governments would purchase future land values at discounted prices and take ownership after 100 years. Marshall asserted that this plan, which he strongly supported, would end the need for a tax collection department of government. For newly formed countries where land was not already private, Marshall advocated implementing George's economic proposal immediately. Karl Marx considered

2200-516: Is efficient , fair, and equitable . The main Georgist policy recommendation is a tax assessed on land value, arguing that revenues from a land value tax (LVT) can be used to reduce or eliminate existing taxes (such as on income , trade , or purchases ) that are unfair and inefficient. Some Georgists also advocate for the return of surplus public revenue to the people by means of a basic income or citizen's dividend . Henry George popularized

2288-427: Is a politically expedient compromise necessary for achieving reform. For similar reasons, others propose capturing only future land value increases, instead of all land rent. Some libertarians and minarchists take the position that limited social spending should be financed using Georgist concepts of rent value capture , but that not all land rent should be captured. Today, this relatively conservative adaptation

2376-639: Is composed of three entities: Culver Military Academy (CMA) for boys, Culver Girls Academy (CGA), and the Culver Summer Schools and Camps (CSSC). Culver Military Academy was founded in 1894 by Henry Harrison Culver . The Eugene C. Eppley Foundation donated the funds for three classroom buildings that comprise the Gignilliat Memorial Quadrangle. Eppley Auditorium, built 65 years ago in 1959, seats 1,492 people. The new Steinbrenner Performing Arts Center consists of

2464-424: Is due to those investments classed as land values and natural monopolies and to competitive industries aided by such monopolies", and that "tax reform should seek to remove all burdens from capital and labour and impose them on monopolies." However, he criticized Georgists for failing to see that Henry George's anti-monopoly ideas must be implemented with a variety of policy tools. Commons wrote, "Trees do not grow into

2552-411: Is everything that exists in nature independent of human activity. George explicitly included climate, soil, waterways, mineral deposits, laws/forces of nature, public ways, forests, oceans, air, and solar energy in the category of land. While the philosophy of Georgism does not say anything definitive about specific policy interventions needed to address problems posed by various sources of economic rent,

2640-885: Is now a National Historic Landmark in the Riverside Drive Historic District . Junior High School 189 Daniel Carter Beard is located in Flushing, Queens , New York; the Daniel Carter Beard Mall is a nearby park. The Daniel Carter Beard Elementary School is located in Chicago, Illinois. The Dan Beard Council is the administrative body of the BSA in the Greater Cincinnati area. Many Scout camps have sites named after Beard: Other camps have programs named after Beard, such as

2728-464: Is plausible but was more likely to be true during George's time than now. An early criticism of Georgism was that it would generate too much public revenue and result in unwanted growth of government, but later critics argued that it would not generate enough income to cover government spending. Joseph Schumpeter concluded his analysis of Georgism by stating that, "It is not economically unsound, except that it involves an unwarranted optimism concerning

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2816-711: Is recognized for a gift of at least $ 100,000. Mount Dan Beard , a 10,082-foot (3,073 m) peak in the Alaska Range near Denali in Denali National Park and Preserve , is named after Beard. Every year on February 8, in commemoration of Founders Day , local Scouts place a wreath on Beard's grave at the Brick Church Cemetery . Georgist Georgism is concerned with the distribution of economic rent caused by land ownership, natural monopolies , pollution rights, and control of

2904-465: Is seen by some, including other opponents of Georgism, as relying on false assumptions and flawed reasoning. Austrian economist Friedrich Hayek credited early enthusiasm for Henry George with developing his interest in economics. Later, Hayek said that the theory of Georgism would be very strong if assessment challenges did not result in unfair outcomes, but he believed that they would. Economists Bryan Caplan and Zachary Gochenour have argued that

2992-402: Is that everything would be all right if ground rent were paid to the state." Richard T. Ely agreed with the economic arguments for Georgism but believed that correcting the problem the way Henry George wanted, without compensation, was unjust to existing landowners. In explaining his position, Ely wrote, "If we have all made a mistake, should one party to the transaction alone bear the cost of

3080-461: Is usually considered incompatible with true geolibertarianism , which requires that excess rents be gathered and then distributed back to residents. During Henry George's time, this restrained Georgist philosophy was known as "single tax limited", as opposed to "single tax unlimited." George disagreed with the limited interpretation, but he accepted its adherents (e.g., Thomas Shearman ) as legitimate "single-taxers." Georgist ideas heavily influenced

3168-547: The Camp-Fire Club of America . Beard merged his organization into the Boy Scouts of America when it was founded in 1910. He became one of the first National Scout commissioners of the Boy Scouts and served it for 30 years. He later became the editor of Boys' Life magazine, the BSA official magazine, and wrote a monthly column for youth. The work of both Beard and Ernest Thompson Seton are in large part

3256-537: The European Parliament 1978–1979. The influence of Henry George has waned over time, but Georgist ideas still occasionally emerge in politics. For the United States 2004 presidential election , third-party presidential candidate Ralph Nader mentioned George in his policy statements. Economists still generally favor a land value tax. Monetarist economist Milton Friedman publicly endorsed

3344-523: The Fabian Society , which would each go on to help form the modern-day Labour Party . The Liberal government included a land tax as part of several taxes in the 1909 People's Budget intended to redistribute wealth (including a progressively graded income tax and an increase of inheritance tax ). This caused a political crisis that resulted indirectly in reform of the House of Lords . The budget

3432-881: The Lincoln Institute of Land Policy was established in 1974 based on the writings of Henry George. It "seeks to improve the dialogue about urban development, the built environment, and tax policy in the United States and abroad". The Henry George Foundation continues to promote the ideas of Henry George in the United Kingdom. The IU is an international umbrella organisation that brings together organizations worldwide that seek land-value tax reform. The economist Alfred Marshall believed that George's views in Progress and Poverty were dangerous, even predicting wars, terror, and economic destruction from

3520-792: The Somers System . This Georgist tax continued until 1915, when two courts struck it down as violating the Texas Constitution in 1915. This quashed efforts in several other Texas cities towards implementing the Houston Plan: Beaumont , Corpus Christi , Galveston , San Antonio , and Waco . The German protectorate of the Kiautschou Bay concession in Jiaozhou Bay , China , fully implemented Georgist policy. Its sole source of government revenue

3608-411: The "least bad tax", since unlike other taxes, it would not impose an excess burden on economic activity (leading to zero or even negative " deadweight loss "); hence, a replacement of other more "distortionary" taxes with a land value tax would improve economic welfare. As land value tax can improve the use of land and redirect investment toward productive, non- rent-seeking activities, it could even have

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3696-709: The Academy's Culver Woodcraft Camp. Beard died on June 11, 1941, at age 90, at his home Brooklands in Suffern, New York . He was buried near his home at the Brick Church Cemetery in Spring Valley, New York . The National Program Director of the Boy Scouts of America, E. Urner Goodman , was selected to be in charge of the beloved youth leader's funeral in Suffern. An estimated 2,000 people lined

3784-494: The Georgist land value tax as the "least bad tax". Economist Joseph Stiglitz stated that: "Not only was Henry George correct that a tax on land is non-distortionary, but in an equilibrium society … tax on land raises just enough revenue to finance the (optimally chosen) level of government expenditure." He dubbed this proposition the Henry George theorem . Several communities were initiated with Georgist principles during

3872-421: The Georgist policy of land value tax as a means of freeing or rewilding unused land and conserving nature by reducing urban sprawl . Pollution degrades the value of what Georgists consider to be commons . Because pollution is a negative contribution, a taking from the commons or a cost imposed on others, its value is economic rent , even when the polluter is not receiving an explicit income. Therefore, to

3960-480: The United States, the United Kingdom and Australia are more than sufficient to fund all levels of government. Anarcho-capitalist political philosopher and economist Murray Rothbard criticized Georgism in Man, Economy, and State as being philosophically incongruent with subjective value theory , and further stating that land is irrelevant in the factors of production, trade, and price systems, but this critique

4048-799: The United States. He became an Eagle Scout at the age of 64 on February 15, 1915. Prior to the establishment of the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award , Dan Beard was recipient of the only "gold Eagle badge" awarded at the Second National Training Conference of Scout Executives held in 1922 in Blue Ridge, North Carolina. Dan Beard was also involved with the Culver Academies ' summer camp program for many years, which used his "Sons of Daniel Boone" program. This program still exists as

4136-483: The basis for The American Boy's Handy Book . He was a member of the Student Art League, where he met and befriended Ernest Thompson Seton in 1883. He illustrated a number of books for Mark Twain , and for other authors such as Ernest Crosby . In 1886, Daniel Carter Beard joined Henry George 's Single-tax movement and became a strong advocate of the Georgist philosophy. He wrote several novels about

4224-603: The basis of the Traditional Scouting movement. Beard also helped his sister organize the Camp Fire Girls . Beard was a Freemason , initiated in the Mariners Lodge No. 67 ( New York City ). An award for Masonic Scouters has been named in his honor. Beard founded Boy Scout Troop 1 in Flushing, New York , which is believed to be one of the oldest continuously chartered Boy Scout Troops in

4312-418: The common blunder?" John R. Commons supported Georgist economics but opposed what he perceived as an environmentally and politically reckless tendency for advocates to rely on a one-size-fits-all approach to tax reform, specifically, the "single tax" framing. Commons concluded The Distribution of Wealth , with an estimate that "perhaps 95% of the total values represented by these millionaire [ sic ] fortunes

4400-597: The common goal among modern Georgists is to capture and share (or reduce) rent from all sources of natural monopoly and legal privilege. Henry George shared the goal of modern Georgists to socialize or dismantle rent from all forms of land monopoly and legal privilege. However, George emphasized mainly his preferred policy known as land value tax , which targeted a particular form of unearned income known as ground rent . George emphasized ground-rent because basic locations were more valuable than other monopolies and everybody needed locations to survive, which he contrasted with

4488-406: The commons, including title of ownership for natural resources and other contrived privileges (e.g., intellectual property ). Any natural resource that is inherently limited in supply can generate economic rent, but the classical and most significant example of land monopoly involves the extraction of common ground rent from valuable urban locations. Georgists argue that taxing economic rent

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4576-478: The community, while the fruits of labor would remain private. According to Georgists, a land value tax can be considered a user fee instead of a tax, since it is related to the market value of socially created locational advantage, the privilege to exclude others from locations. Assets consisting of commodified privilege can be considered as wealth since they have exchange value, similar to taxi medallions . A land value tax, charging fees for exclusive use of land, as

4664-756: The concept of gaining public revenues mainly from land and natural resource privileges with his first book, Progress and Poverty (1879). The philosophical basis of Georgism draws on thinkers such as John Locke , Baruch Spinoza , and Thomas Paine . Economists from Adam Smith and David Ricardo to Milton Friedman and Joseph Stiglitz have observed that a public levy on land value does not cause economic inefficiency , unlike other taxes. A land value tax also has progressive tax effects. Advocates of land value taxes argue that they reduce economic inequality , increase economic efficiency, remove incentives to under-utilize urban land, and reduce property speculation . Georgist ideas were popular and influential during

4752-429: The costs of taxes and the benefits of public spending always eventually apply to and enrich the owners of land. Therefore, they believed it would be best to defray public costs and recapture value of public spending by applying public charges directly to owners of land titles, rather than harming public welfare with taxes assessed against beneficial activities such as trade and labor. Henry George wrote that his plan for

4840-478: The effects of various factors. Applying this method, he concluded that many of the problems that beset society, such as poverty, inequality, and economic booms and busts, could be attributed to the private ownership of the necessary resource: land rent. In his most celebrated book, Progress and Poverty , George argues that the appropriation of land rent for private use contributes to persistent poverty in spite of technological progress, and causes economies to exhibit

4928-417: The elimination of corruption, fraud, and evasion with respect to the collection of taxes; the enablement of true free trade; the destruction of monopolies; the elevation of wages to the full value of labor; the transformation of labor-saving inventions into blessings for all; and the equitable distribution of comfort, leisure, and other advantages that are made possible by an advancing civilization. In this way,

5016-546: The extent that geoists recognize the effect of pollution or share conservationist values, they will agree with ecological economists about the need to limit pollution, but geoists will also insist that pollution rents generated from those conservation efforts do not accrue to polluters and are instead used for public purposes or to compensate those who suffer the negative effects of pollution. Ecological economists advocate similar pollution restrictions but, emphasizing conservation first, might be willing to grant private polluters

5104-422: The extent that society determines pollution to be harmful, most Georgists propose to limit pollution with taxation or quotas that capture the resulting rents for public use, restoration, or a citizen's dividend . Georgism is related to the school of ecological economics , since both propose market-based restrictions for pollution. The schools are compatible in that they advocate using similar tools as part of

5192-733: The first-year camper program at McKee Scout Reservation in Kentucky. The Forest Preserves of Cook County, Illinois, has long had a campground called Camp Dan Beard . Freemasons in the U.S. offer the Daniel Carter Beard Masonic Scouter Award for Masons who are involved with Scouting. The BSA offers the James E. West Fellowship Award ; an advanced level is the 1910 Society which in turn includes levels of contributions—the Daniel Carter Beard

5280-618: The funeral route to the cemetery in Monsey, New York , where 127 Boy Scouts formed an honor guard and assisted with traffic control. The Daniel Carter Beard Bridge carries I-471 across the Ohio River . A life-size bronze statue of Daniel Carter Beard and a Boy Scout, created by world-renowned sculptor Kenneth Bradford, stands at 322 East 3rd Street in Covington, Kentucky , Beard's boyhood home. The nearby Daniel Carter Beard Boyhood Home

5368-591: The height of the philosophy's popularity. Two such communities that still exist are Arden, Delaware , which was founded in 1900 by Frank Stephens and William Lightfoot Price , and Fairhope, Alabama , which was founded in 1894 under the auspices of the Fairhope Single Tax Corporation . Some established communities in the United States also adopted Georgist tax policies. A Georgist in Houston, Texas , Joseph Jay "J.J." Pastoriza , promoted

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5456-630: The idea "that land is a unique factor of production and hence that there is any special need for a special theory of ground rent" claiming that "this is in fact the basis of all the attacks on Henry George by contemporary economists and certainly the fundamental reason why professional economists increasingly ignored him". Robert Solow endorsed the theory of Georgism, while being wary of the perceived injustice of expropriation . Solow stated that taxing away expected land rents "would have no semblance of fairness"; however, Georgism would be good to introduce where location values were not already privatized or if

5544-646: The ideas of Henry George. According to The American Journal of Economics and Sociology , the periodical Land&Liberty , established in 1894, is "the longest-lived Georgist project in history". Founded during the Great Depression in 1932, the Henry George School of Social Science in New York offers courses, sponsors seminars, and publishes research in the Georgist paradigm. Also in the US,

5632-503: The immediate implementation of its recommendations. Specifically, Marshall was upset about the idea of rapid change and the unfairness of not compensating existing landowners. In his lectures on Progress and Poverty , Marshall opposed George's position on compensation while fully endorsing his ultimate remedy. So far as land value tax moderately replaced other taxes and did not cause the price of land to fall, Marshall supported land value taxation on economic and moral grounds, suggesting that

5720-428: The late 19th and early 20th centuries. Political parties, institutions, and communities were founded on Georgist principles during that time. Early devotees of George's economic philosophy were often termed Single Taxers for their political goal of raising public revenue mainly or only from a land-value tax, although Georgists endorsed multiple forms of rent capture (e.g. seigniorage ) as legitimate. The term Georgism

5808-418: The less significant streetcar and telegraph monopolies, which George also criticized. George likened the problem to a laborer traveling home who is waylaid by a series of highway robbers along the way, each who demand a small portion of the traveler's wages, and finally at the very end of the road waits a robber who demands all that the traveler has left. George reasoned that it made little difference to challenge

5896-453: The mere owner, and profitable only to the user". A high land value tax would discourage speculators from holding valuable natural opportunities (like urban real estate) unused or only partially used. Henry George claimed this would have many benefits, including the reduction or elimination of tax burdens from poorer neighborhoods and agricultural districts; the elimination of a multiplicity of taxes and expensive obsolete government institutions;

5984-1026: The politics of the early 20th century. Political parties that were formed based on Georgist ideas include the Commonwealth Land Party in the United States , the Henry George Justice Party in Victoria , the Single Tax League in South Australia , and the Justice Party in Denmark . In the United Kingdom , George's writings were praised by emerging socialist groups in 1890s such as the Independent Labour Party and

6072-401: The privilege to capture pollution rents. To the extent that ecological economists share the geoist view of social justice, they would advocate auctioning pollution quotas instead of giving them away for free. This distinction can be seen in the difference between basic cap and trade and the geoist variation, cap and share , a proposal to auction temporary pollution permits, with rents going to

6160-473: The public, instead of giving pollution privilege away for free to existing polluters or selling perpetual permits. The revenue can allow the reduction or elimination of taxes, greater public investment/spending, or the direct distribution of funds to citizens as a pension or basic income / citizen's dividend . In practice, the elimination of all other taxes implies a high land value tax, greater than any currently existing land tax. Introducing or increasing

6248-448: The series of small robbers when the final robber remained to demand all that the common laborer had left. George predicted that over time technological advancements would increase the frequency and importance of lesser monopolies, yet he expected that ground rent would remain dominant. George even predicted that ground-rents would rise faster than wages and income to capital, a prediction that modern analysis has shown to be plausible, since

6336-453: The single-tax platform as a regression from the transition to communism and referred to Georgism as "capitalism's last ditch". Marx argued that, "The whole thing is ... simply an attempt, decked out with socialism , to save capitalist domination and indeed to establish it afresh on an even wider basis than its present one." Marx also criticized the way land value tax theory emphasizes the value of land, arguing that George's "fundamental dogma

6424-405: The sky—they would perish in a high wind; and a single truth, like a single tax, ends in its own destruction." Commons uses the natural soil fertility and value of forests as an example of this destruction, arguing that a tax on the in-situ value of those depletable natural resources can result in overuse or over-extraction. Instead, Commons recommends an income tax-based approach to forests similar to

6512-588: The subject (such as Moonblight and Six Feet of Romance ). With Mark Twain 's approval, Beard's illustrations for A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court were a Georgist interpretation of the story. In 1908 while living in Redding, Connecticut , Beard was among those on hand to welcome Mark Twain upon his arrival to the author's new villa Stormfield . Beard became the editor of Recreation magazine launched by his friend George O. Shields and wrote

6600-468: The supply of land is fixed. Spatial rent is still the primary emphasis of Georgists because of its large value and the known dis-economies of misused land. However, there are other sources of rent that are theoretically analogous to ground-rent and are debated topics of Georgists. The following are some sources of economic rent. Where free competition is impossible, such as telegraphs, water, gas, and transportation, George wrote, "[S]uch business becomes

6688-419: The supply of land is perfectly inelastic , land rents depend on what tenants are prepared to pay, rather than on the expenses of landlords, and so the tax cannot be passed on to tenants. Standard economic theory suggests that a land value tax would be extremely efficient—unlike other taxes, it does not reduce economic productivity. Milton Friedman described Henry George's tax on unimproved value of land as

6776-575: The territory was returned to the Republic of China . Georgist ideas were also adopted to some degree in Australia , Hong Kong , Singapore , South Africa , South Korea , and Taiwan . In these countries, governments still levy some type of land value tax, albeit with exemptions. Many municipal governments of the United States depend on real-property tax as their main source of revenue, although such taxes are not Georgist as they generally include

6864-419: The transition could be phased in slowly. George has also been accused of exaggerating the importance of his "all-devouring rent thesis" in claiming that it is the primary cause of poverty and injustice in society. George argued that the rent of land increased faster than wages for labor because the supply of land is fixed. Modern economists, including Ottmar Edenhofer have demonstrated that George's assertion

6952-533: The use of the community, of that value which is the creation of the community. It is the application of the common property to common uses. When all rent is taken by taxation for the needs of the community, then will the equality ordained by Nature be attained. No citizen will have an advantage over any other citizen save as is given by his industry, skill, and intelligence; and each will obtain what he fairly earns. Then, but not till then, will labor get its full reward, and capital its natural return. George believed there

7040-584: The value of buildings and other improvements. One exception is the town of Altoona, Pennsylvania , which for a time in the 21st century only taxed land value, phasing in the tax in 2002, relying on it entirely for tax revenue from 2011, and ending it 2017; the Financial Times noted that "Altoona is using LVT in a city where neither land nor buildings have much value". In 2023, Detroit mayor Mike Duggan and Michigan State Representative Stephanie Young proposed replacing existing property taxes with

7128-439: The vulnerability that market economies have to credit bubbles and property manias would be reduced. Income flow resulting from payments for restricted access to natural opportunities or for contrived privileges over geographic regions is termed economic rent . Georgists argue that economic rent of land, legal privileges , and natural monopolies should accrue to the community, rather than private owners. In economics, " land "

7216-500: The yield of such a tax." Economists who study land conclude that Schumpeter's criticism is unwarranted because the rental yield from land is likely much greater than what modern critics such as Paul Krugman suppose. Krugman agrees that land value taxation is the best means of raising public revenue but asserts that increased spending has rendered land rent insufficient to fully fund government. Georgists have responded by citing studies and analyses implying that land values of nations like

7304-499: Was an important distinction between common and collective property. Although equal rights to land might be achieved by nationalizing land and then leasing it to private users, George preferred taxing unimproved land value and leaving the control of land mostly in private hands. George's reasoning for leaving land in private control and slowly shifting to land value tax was that it would not penalize existing owners who had improved land and would also be less disruptive and controversial in

7392-439: Was invented later, and some prefer the term geoism as more generic. Henry George is best known for popularizing the argument that government should be funded by a tax on land rent rather than taxes on labor . George believed that although scientific experiments could not be performed in political economy, theories could be tested by comparing different societies with different conditions and by thought experiments about

7480-622: Was passed eventually—but without the land tax. In 1931, the minority Labour government passed a land value tax as part III of the 1931 Finance act. However, this was repealed in 1934 by the National Government before it could be implemented. In Denmark, the Georgist Justice Party has previously been represented in Folketinget . It formed part of a centre-left government 1957–60 and was also represented in

7568-578: Was the artist James Henry Beard and his mother was Mary Caroline (Carter) Beard. His uncle was the artist William Holbrook Beard . He lived at 322 East Third Street in Covington, Kentucky near the Licking River , where he learned the stories of Kentucky pioneer life. He started an early career as an engineer and surveyor. He attended art school in New York City. He wrote a series of articles for St. Nicholas Magazine that later formed

7656-580: Was the land value tax of six percent which it levied in its territory. The German colonial empire had previously had economic problems with its African colonies caused by land speculation . One of the main reasons for using the land value tax in Jiaozhou Bay was to eliminate such speculation, which the policy achieved. The colony existed as a German protectorate from 1898 until 1914, when seized by Japanese and British troops in World War I . In 1922,

7744-459: Was to be advanced by the inhabitant, or by the owner of the ground, would be of little importance. The more the inhabitant was obliged to pay for the tax, the less he would incline to pay for the ground; so that the final payment of the tax would fall altogether upon the owner of the ground-rent. Both ground-rents and the ordinary rent of land are a species of revenue which the owner, in many cases, enjoys without any care or attention of his own. Though

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