A radical idea from 1879
The land belongs to Everyone
Henry George’s bold insight: land value is created by society, not by landlords — so it should benefit everyone, not just those who own it.
The Core Argument
Three ideas that changed economic thought
Land Value is Communal
A plot of land is valuable not because of anything its owner did — but because of the roads, schools, businesses, and neighbors that surround it. The community creates the value. The owner merely claims it.
Labor Deserves Its Fruits
What you build, make, or earn through your own effort is yours. George believed deeply in property rights — but only for things that people actually create. Taxing wages and production punishes work.
The Single Tax Principle
Replace income, sales, and other taxes with a single tax on land value. This discourages speculation, encourages productive use of land, and funds public goods — schools, infrastructure, safety — for all.
The Mechanism
How a Land Value Tax actually works
Assess Land Value Separately
The value of the land itself — not the buildings or improvements on it — is assessed annually. This separates what society created from what owners built.
Tax the Land, Not the Labor
A levy is placed on that land value. Owners who sit idle on valuable land pay; those who improve their land are not penalized for doing so.
Revenue Funds Public Goods
The collected revenue funds the very infrastructure — roads, transit, schools — that drives land values up. A self-reinforcing cycle for the common good.
Other Taxes Can be Reduced
As land value revenue grows, burdensome taxes on income, wages, and goods can be reduced or eliminated, freeing workers and producers.
Tax Burden Comparison
"Men did not make the earth. It is the value of the improvement only, and not the earth itself, that is individual property. Every individual in a country has an equal right to the possession of the ground."
Why It Matters
A fairer world through one elegant idea
More Affordable Housing
Taxing land discourages hoarding of vacant lots. Landowners are incentivized to develop or sell, increasing housing supply and reducing speculation-driven prices.
Better Public Services
Revenue from land value funds schools, libraries, transit, and infrastructure — the very things that make communities thrive and land more valuable in the first place.
Workers Keep More
When the tax burden shifts from labor and production to land, workers take home more of what they earn. Building a business becomes more rewarding, not more taxed.
Greater Equality
Wealth concentrated in land — often inherited, not earned — is redistributed back into the commons. Progress benefits everyone, not just those who happened to own land as cities grew.
Learn More
Resources to help you learn and grow
People own what they
Produce.
The rest belongs to
all of us.
Henry George’s bold insight: land value is created by society, not by landlords — so it should benefit everyone, not just those who own it.
