226 Economic Theory: An Introductionfor speculation. The only land that could sustain the tax would
be that land which was producing a good which produced earned
income. George maintained that the low tax on unused land
encourages speculation. Increase the tax on land to make it
utterly unprofitable to keep land out of use, and George’s goal
will be achieved. Also, since the tax on the land would be so
great, not only would unused land be forced into common
ownership, used land would be used to the fullest.
Take, for example, a building on a piece of land in America
today. The tax is placed primarily on the building, not the land.
Thus, it is profitable for the owner to keep the building in
disrepair, or to forego improvements on the building since to
improve it would increase the taxes on that building. George’s
claim is that if the tax were being paid only on the land,
competition would lead the owners to provide the best building
possible, since a building of superior quality will not increase the
taxes. Those who could not compete, work, produce, and use the
land would have to abandon it. Thus, each man would have equal
access to the land and the produce of his labor would be the
determining factor as to whether or not he would keep it. In fact,
the concept of owning land would give way to the concept of
using land.
Henry George saw, in his philosophy, not simply a means to
get the most out of the land, nor simply a means to end land
speculation. With the end of land speculation would come just
wages in relation to production, the end of periods of boom and
bust, equal entry for all in the use of land, and the end of poverty.
During his lifetime Henry George was a colorful, diverse,
interesting, and controversial proponent of an economic idea
that has yet to be realized. Perhaps the single tax, with all of the
intriguing predictions of its effect, is not possible. Probably the
implementation of such a system could not be achieved. But the
contribution of Henry George in pointing out the problem of land
speculation and the problems that result from land monopoly, is
a valuable one. Also, an understanding of his view of property
taxation could be the basis for some creative ideas about how to
deal with slums and deteriorating neighborhoods.