Progressive Momentum - LVT

Citizens determined to change the way revenue was raised to pay for public goods and services with arguments taken from the writings of political economist Henry George.

Late in the nineteenth century, an organized citizens’ movement arose in the United States determined to change the way revenue was raised to pay for public goods and services. With arguments taken from the writings of political economist Henry George, activists sought to introduce legislation that would exempt from taxation what were defined as productive economic assets and activities. These included all goods produced by labor, including the capital goods on which modern industrialized economies were already dependent. Public revenue would thereafter come from the value of land (i.e., of locations in cities and towns, of agricultural and mineral-laden lands, and from those assets freely provided by nature for human exploitation and use.)

Public support for the wholesale movement toward land values as the sole or primary source for public revenue never materialized. The proposal aroused vocal and well-financed opposition in a nation where landed interests were politically powerful. Yet, decades following Henry George’s death in 1897 were characterized by determined efforts to mitigate the social ills associated with the American system, as it had evolved over the first century of the nation’s existence.

In the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania a small number of elected officials and civic leaders continued to make the case for the reforms championed by Henry George. Working within the confines of state constitutional law, they focused their energy on the system of property taxation and the granting of authority over public finance to local government. What developed was a sustained strategy to promote adoption of a system of property taxation that applied a higher rate of taxation of assessed land values than to the value of property improvements.

Constitutional Authority

Supporters of LVT managed to build sufficient support to have the Pennsylvania state constitution amended:

“The sponsors of the measure were able to enlist the support of Mayor William A. Magee for a bill embodying the recommendations of the committee, which was introduced in the State Legislature as a mandatory measure … applying to the two second-class cities, Pittsburgh and Scranton …”

The bill was signed by Governor John K. Tener on May 15, 1913, and officials in Scranton and Pittsburgh instructed the assessors of their respective cities to complete the first separate assessment of land and buildings as required by the act.

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Progressive Momentum - LVT

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