Henry George

Henry George (1839–1897) was an American political economist and journalist who argued that economic rent from land should fund public revenue through a tax on land value.

Economic rent: Income gained from control of a scarce resource beyond the minimum needed to keep it in use. George treated land rent as value created by society rather than by the landowner.
Site value taxation: Taxation of a parcel’s location value separately from buildings and other improvements. It describes the tax base George wanted assessed and collected.
Progress and Poverty: Henry George’s 1879 book arguing that economic progress can coexist with poverty because land values rise. This book made his explanation of inequality and his land-tax proposal widely influential.
Single tax: A proposal to replace most taxes with a tax on land value. George popularized this shorthand for his fiscal program.
Wage fund doctrine: A nineteenth-century theory that wages are paid from a predetermined fund of circulating capital. George rejected explanations that treated workers’ poverty as fixed by available wage capital.
Land value tax: A tax on the unimproved value of land, excluding buildings and other improvements. It is the central policy George proposed to capture land rent for public use.
Economic land: Natural resources and locations available for production, excluding human-made improvements. George’s argument depends on treating land as distinct from produced capital.
San Francisco: A California city that grew rapidly during the nineteenth-century Gold Rush and railroad expansion. George’s observations of rapid growth and poverty there helped form his economic critique.
United Labor Party: An American political party formed in 1886 that nominated George for mayor of New York City. His campaign brought Georgist ideas into a major urban election.
Progressive income tax: An income tax whose marginal rates rise as taxable income increases. Unlike George’s preferred land tax, it taxes income from multiple sources.

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