HISTORY NOTES 1811-1991 PROGRESS AND POVERTY (1879) 17-2 Henry George was a journalist in San Francisco. He knew that the nation was entering a age of unprecedented wealth, poverty persisted and social inequality widened. To fix the problem he proposed a land value or rent be taxed and the revenues go back to the public. He proposed that a tax on all owned land was better and would profit on a single land tax whether the land was improved by the owner or not improved the same tax would be paid. So the non-producer would no longer toll in luxury while the producer got the barest necessities. THE GOSPEL WEALTH (1889) 17-3