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Fairhope, Alabama
Fairhope, Alabama, is one of two single tax colonies remaining in the United States (the other is in Arden, Delaware). The community was established in 1894 by a group from Des Moines, Iowa, headed by Ernest B. Gaston, who wanted to establish a colony based on the single tax theories of economist, journalist and social reformer Henry George.
The rent paid to the Single Tax Corporation by lessees includes an amount due for state, county and local taxes, plus an administration fee to operate the Single Tax Corporation office, plus a “demonstration fee”, intended to demonstrate the usefulness of the single tax concept. Funds from the demonstration fee are used to enhance the community by supporting such things as the public parks, the public library, the historical museum, etc.
Fairhope is located on the Eastern Shore of Mobile Bay...About 4,500 acres of land in and around Fairhope is owned by the Fairhope Single Tax Corporation. This includes the downtown area and a little less than half of the remainder of the city.
The link is here. Here is Wikipedia on Fairhope. Fairhope never succeeded in being a formal single tax "colony," but here is a short history and they are arguably the "purest" remaining example of the Georgist idea. One public choice lesson in this history is that later economic pressures will overwhelm virtually any initial constitution. It is a pretty city to visit and they still have a plaque in honor of the single tax concept.
Via Kevin Vallier, here is a guidebook for Fairhope.
Posted by Tyler Cowen on July 18, 2009 at 01:32 AM in History, Travels | Permalink
Comments
There's a lot to be said for George's theories, but you need multiple taxes because much thought goes into evading taxes. So, the more different kind of taxes, the less it's worth spending to evade any single tax.
Posted by: Steve Sailer at Jul 18, 2009 2:44:33 AM
I think the point about land tax is that it's almost impossible to avoid.
Posted by: Mr Art at Jul 18, 2009 4:11:59 PM
You could just not use much land. Live in a penthouse apartment and make your neighbors who want big backyards for their kids pay the great majority of the tax bills.
It's more effective and fairer to have a multiplicity of moderate-sized taxes than one giant tax, which some people will put a lot of cleverness into arranging their affairs to evade.
Posted by: Steve Sailer at Jul 18, 2009 5:13:48 PM
Just because the Single Tax isn't practical doesn't mean that Henry George's analysis of the unproductiveness of real estate speculation isn't relevant. Look how the financial crash was kicked off by the popping of a speculative real estate bubble in California and a few other states.
Economists were largely useless during the Housing Bubble, but they wouldn't have been if Henry George wasn't demonized and ignored by the economic mainstream.
Posted by: Steve Sailer at Jul 18, 2009 5:16:57 PM
"You could just not use much land. Live in a penthouse apartment and make your neighbors who want big backyards for their kids pay the great majority of the tax bills."
Someone will pay the tax.
Basically, land tax will reduce the demand for land; but, because the supply of land is (almost) rigid, the result of that is only a reducion of the price of the land, until the point when the reducion of the price compensate the tax.
In a way, a tax on land it is really not payed by the people who own land; is payed by the people who own land at the moment that the tax on land is established.
Posted by: Miguel Madeira at Jul 19, 2009 6:27:34 PM
