Georgism and Libertarianism: why they are Supplemental

It’s difficult to recommend Georgism or libertarianism separately. Why?

Georgists promote Land Value Tax as the means to share the earth. Georgism without libertarianism could be understood as a call to use most of the revenues of this land value tax to fund a large government. A land value tax that replaces other taxes would be an improvement over the current situation. However, there is a risk that the government will waste our money or spend it on things we don’t want. We are only truly free when we can dispose of our part of the earth ourselves. If the government spends a large part of the revenues of the land value tax, this would not be the case. Geo-libertarians emphasize that most of the revenues of a land value tax should be directly returned to the people. Each individual should receive their fair share. Geo-libertarians love cooperation, however, individuals should decide to do things together based on consent, not because they are forced to join a common project.

Libertarianism without Georgism can be seen as a call to grant each other freedom without recognizing that a free person can dispose of his or her part of the earth. This may provide an improvement compared to the current situation. Red tape can make our lives unnecessarily complicated and expensive. Excessive regulation is also an important obstacle for people who want to have their place on earth to live, work or have fun. Without the premise that people have equal rights to the earth, however, inequality becomes an increasing problem. As long as we have to pay a high price to the possessors of the earth, we are not free. Liberation from landlords is necessary.

Therefore, only a combination of both insights will help us to make our world truly free. We may name this approach Geo-libertarianism, but some other names are available for it, such as escapism.