Henry George's Remedy:
Is It Right?
Will It Work?

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I. Common Property in Land

Land, by its very nature, is common property — and our laws and traditions already go far toward recognizing it as such. This is a fact that has been widely recognized by a surprising number of great thinkers of many cultures.

Henry George proposed that the rent of land should be paid to the community. This payment would satisfy the equal rights of all other members of the community -- without disturbing individual title to land, fixity of tenure and undisturbed possession. This method of making land “common property” may also be called “conditional private property in land” (payment of rent to the community) as opposed to “absolute private property in land” (private collection of rent).

The concept of “conditional private property in land” is well-known to anyone familiar with modern laws concerning real estate. In legal terms, "selling a piece of land" is a non sequitur. What is transacted is a "bundle of rights" that attaches to a particular site. These rights could include surface rights, subsurface mineral rights, aquifer use rights, air-space rights, etc. When Henry George thundered "We must make land common property!" his fervor and bluntness unnerved some people -- but he meant it. George insisted that we allocate the bundle of rights according to the moral basis of ownership. Society must grant secure land tenure, refuse to confiscate the products of labor, and "not sell the land for ever" -- by collecting, for society, the socially-created rental value of land.

The principle of eminent domain asserts the superior claim of society to land, as in the original Constitution of New York State: “The people of the State, in their right of sovereignty, possess the original and ultimate property in and to all lands within the jurisdiction of the State.” English and American law generally recognize absolute ownership of goods, but not of land. The law deals with the land “owner” as a land holder; land is held under the sovereignty of the people and is subject to their conditions.

Some hold that a distinction should be drawn between Common property — that which all have an equal right to use and enjoy -- and Government property -- that which belongs to the state and is subject to the direction of the government. If we believe, however, as Henry George did, that the purpose of government is to secure equal rights of all people, then there can be no meaningful distinction between common and government property. The government’s role is to administer the common property of the people -- who may decide, through the political process, to hold certain areas off the market for public use.

The only non-governmental common property is the unclaimed frontier. No individual, corporation or government can legitimately claim sovereign control over land except in its just role of securing the equal rights of all people.

These pages on Henry George's remedy are illustrated with a selection of archival images of the history of the Single Tax movement.        At the turn of the 20th century, the "Single Tax" movement was one of the most vital and influential forces of the progressive era. Single tax Mayors and Legislators were elected in a number of states, most notably Mayor Tom L. Johnson of Cleveland. A statue of Johnson in Cleveland today shows him holding the book that inspired his political career: Progress and Poverty. The Single Tax poster at right was used as an advertisement for The Public, a Chicago Georgist newspaper published by Louis F. Post, the eminent author and advocate who served as Assistant Secretary of Labor in the Wilson Administration.