Robert Schalkenbach Foundation

ROBERT SCHALKENBACH FOUNDATION (RSF) was organized in 1925 as an operating foundation to promote public awareness of the social philosophy and economic reforms advocated by Henry George (1839-1897), including the “single tax on land values”. To this end, RSF publishes and distributes books and scholarly articles, particularly those of Henry George, including his best-selling original classic work Progress and Poverty. HENRY GEORGE began with the ethical premise that all people have an equal right to the use of the earth. From that he concluded that exclusive private ownership of land (natural resources) creates unwarranted special privileges. Furthermore, he observed that holding land out of production drives down real wages and the returns to capital equipment. This process is further exacerbated by taxes on production and income that increase unemployment, discourage productive investment, and encourage unproductive land speculation and rent-seeking. To counteract this self-destructive system, George advocated shifting taxes from labor and capital onto the value of land and natural resources. Today, as a growing population confronts the need to fairly, peacefully, and efficiently allocate access to the gifts of nature, the ideas of Henry George have gained a new relevance.