William F. Buckley Jr.

Overview

William F. Buckley Jr. (1925–2008) was an American writer, commentator, and founder of National Review in 1955, widely credited as the intellectual organizer of the postwar American conservative movement and longtime host of the PBS debate program Firing Line (1966–1999).[1] Despite his standing as a movement conservative, Buckley repeatedly described himself as a follower of Henry George and a supporter of the single tax on land value, a position at odds with the property-rights orthodoxy of much of the conservative and libertarian movement he helped build.[2]

In a 2000 interview on C-SPAN's In Depth with Brian Lamb, Buckley discussed George's Progress and Poverty at length, explained the logic that land — unlike labor or capital — cannot be increased in supply and so should be treated as common property for tax purposes, and used the illustration that an empty parking lot should be taxed at the same rate as the office tower next to it if the underlying land value is the same.[2] He also remarked that he had been "beaten down" on the issue over the years by conservative colleagues and intellectual friends who "always find something wrong with the Single-Tax idea," suggesting his Georgist sympathies persisted despite pushback from his own political camp.[2][3]

Doucet's Land is a Big Deal lists Buckley in its table of notable economists and commentators on land value taxation, citing his self-identification as a Georgist via the 2000 C-SPAN appearance (Ch. 15).[4]

Significance

Buckley is cited by Georgist writers as evidence that support for taxing land value crosses the conventional left-right divide: a figure who spent a career opposing redistribution and defending free markets nonetheless treated the land tax as a legitimate, even attractive, exception. His case sits alongside other cross-ideological references — from Milton Friedman's "least bad tax" line — in the argument that LVT support does not track standard ideological camps.

See Also

• Henry George — the thinker whose Progress and Poverty Buckley credited
• Single Tax — the policy Buckley defended in the C-SPAN interview
• Milton Friedman — another prominent non-Georgist economist who endorsed LVT
• Land is a Big Deal (book page) — cites Buckley's self-identification as a Georgist

Sources

1. "William F. Buckley Jr.," Wikipedia — used for biographical facts (birth/death dates, National Review founding, Firing Line run). en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_F._Buckley_Jr.
2. Fred Foldvary, "William F. Buckley the Georgist," Progress.org — used for the account of Buckley's 2000 C-SPAN In Depth interview with Brian Lamb, his discussion of George and the parking-lot/office-tower illustration, and the "beaten down" quote. progress.org/articles/william-f-buckley-the-georgist
3. "User Clip: William F. Buckley discusses Land Value Taxation," C-SPAN.org — primary video clip of the interview. c-span.org/clip/in-depth/user-clip-william-f-buckley-discusses-land-value-taxation/4474939
4. Lars A. Doucet (2022), Land is a Big Deal, Shack Simple Press, Ch. 15 — used for Buckley's inclusion in the book's table of notable economists on LVT. See the wiki's book summary.