For the benefit of any who thus far have not appreciated the gravity of this most plausible attack upon property rights, and therefore have not studied the question, I make the following brief statement of the case as it appeals to a very large number.
Henry George, the great apostle of single tax, was a very able man. I do not say he was a very wise man. Great intellects frequently lead to great errors.
Every advocate of single tax legislation has been a faithful disciple of Henry George. No one has added a new argument, stated an old argument with greater force, or reached a different conclusion. None of his followers has ever apologized for anything Henry George ever said, or refused to stand or fall with the great originator of the scheme. Therefore, to quote Henry George is to quote the best authority, and all authority.
I propose, therefore, to make a few extracts from Henry George’s standard work on the subject—the great text book of single-taxers—“Progress and Poverty.”
He begins and ends his argument with the proposition that God made the land, the sea, and the air, for his children collectively, and has never granted the exclusive right to any part thereof to king or subject. All pretended grants and conveyances, therefore, have been fictitious. Relying upon this argument, he holds that all natural resources still belong to the people collectively, and confiscation in the interest of all is justified.
On page 401 of “Progress and Poverty,” he says: “But a question of method remains. How shall we do it? We should satisfy the law of justice. We should meet all economic requirements by at one stroke abolishing all private titles, declaring all lands public property, and letting it out to the highest bidder in lots to suit.”
On page 403 he says: “I do not propose either to purchase, or to confiscate property in land. The first would be unjust; the second needless. Let the individuals who now hold it still retain, if they want to, possession of what they are pleased to call their land; let them continue to call it their land; let them buy, and sell, and bequeath and devise it. We may safely leave them the shell, if we take the kernel. It is not necessary to confiscate land; it is only necessary to confiscate rent.”
Again, on the same page, he says: “We already take some rent in taxation. We have only to make some changes in our mode of taxation to take it all.”
Thus it will be seen that Henry George, with all his intellect, was mentally dishonest. His heart-beats were sympathetic, but his mind wobbled. He was able to perceive nothing dishonest when I sold my acres, or my lot, invested the proceeds in stocks and bonds, and then by my vote exempted my property from taxation, and placed all the burdens of government on the purchaser of my land.
He would have seen no injustice in a government of the people establishing Rural Credit Banks, as has been done, loaning millions, with mortgages as security, upon lands purchased from the government, then inducing widows and orphans to buy securities issued against these mortgages, and finally taxing the value of the real estate away, thus leaving the widows and orphans to beg their bread from door to door.