The Case Against the Single Tax (Johnson 1914) — and Foldvary's Rebuttal

Summary

This page carries a century-spanning exchange over the single tax:

• Alvin S. Johnson, "The Case against the Single Tax," The Atlantic Monthly, January 1914. Johnson — an economist who taught at Columbia, Chicago, and Cornell, and later co-founded the New School — wrote the era's most prominent mainstream-press attack on the Georgist program at the height of its political salience, characterizing the single tax as "propaganda for the universal confiscation of land."[1] As a named, dated, prestige-venue critique by a serious economist, it is a primary exhibit for how the profession's rejection of George reached the educated public (the academic side of that story is on Blaug and the corruption narrative).
• Fred Foldvary, "The Case Against the Case Against the Single Tax," progress.org, December 17, 2017. Foldvary's point-by-point rebuttal a century later, arguing Johnson's critique was "anti-scholarly" and rested on mischaracterizing rent capture as confiscation.[2] Cited per the wiki's source hierarchy as the advocate-side response (level 6), not as independent evidence.

Why the Pair Matters

Most objection traffic on this wiki concerns modern academic critiques; Johnson 1914 is the historical high-water mark of respectable opposition — useful for the single-tax narrative's deployment guidance (the "confiscation" framing Johnson used is still the reflex objection) and for the movement-decline story (the 1909 People's Budget era's backlash in the American press). Foldvary's reply demonstrates the standard modern answers: a tax on rent flow confiscates no title, and the earned/unearned distinction Johnson dismissed has since acquired an empirical literature (capitalization; capital-share).

Publication Details and Limits

Johnson's article appeared in The Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 113, No. 1 (January 1914), pp. 27–37; its full text is held on this wiki. Both items are confirmed by title, author, date, and venue. Foldvary's rebuttal has not been read in full here, so his specific counterarguments are characterized only at the level his title and published excerpts support.

Bears On

• Concept: Single Tax — the proposal under attack
• Narrative: The Single Tax · The Corruption of Economics
• People: Fred Foldvary

See Also

• E. R. A. Seligman — the prior generation's leading academic critic
• Rothbard's 1957 critique — the other canonical hostile statement on file
• Objection: LVT can't raise enough revenue

Sources

1. Alvin S. Johnson, "The Case against the Single Tax," The Atlantic Monthly, January 1914. — used for the critique's existence, venue, author, and the "confiscation" characterization (A/E-claims; quotation under 50 words, corroborated across multiple published excerpts; Scan Depth: Light).
2. Fred Foldvary, "The Case Against the Case Against the Single Tax," progress.org, 17 December 2017. Article — used for the rebuttal's existence and framing (D-claims, attributed; level-6 advocate source).