Data Bases • Custom Term Papers • Free Term Papers • Free Research Papers • Free Essays • Free Book Reports • Plagiarism? Links • Top 100 Term Paper Sites • Top 25 Essay Sites • Top 50 Essay Sites • Search 97,000 Papers @ DirectEssays.com • Search 101,000 Papers @ ExampleEssays.com • Search 90,000 Papers @ MegaEssays.com Free Essays • Term Paper Sites • Chuck III's Free Essays • Free College Essays • TermPaperSites.com • My Term Papers • Get Free Essays • Essay World • Planet Papers	Search Lots of Essays Back to Subjects - Political Science Fairhope Single Tax Colony Fairhope Single Tax Colony The founders of the Fairhope Single Tax Corporation desired to establish a model community based on the land tax system theory of Henry George and the principle of Cooperative Individualism. The Fairhope Industrial Association of Des Moines, Iowa, founded Fairhope in 1894. Fairhope was selected as the location because of its beauty and climate. The Association became the Fairhope Single Tax Corporation in 1904 and was incorporated as a municipality in 1908. The founders, influenced by the reform goals of the Populist Movement of the time, believed an individual would be free to do as he chose provided the equal rights of others were not infringed upon. Their model community was to be free of private monopoly to provide equal opportunity and reward individual effort as well as cooperation in common interest goals. The founders of the Fairhope Single Tax Corporation used Henry George’s theories and modified them to form the philosophy on which the Corporation is based. The term single tax refers to the George’s statement in Progress and Poverty that “the ageless and universal problem of poverty and other economic and social evils might be cured by a simple fiscal reform.” George’s cure was that government would tax away the full annual use value of land and would refrain from any other form of taxation. In George’s plan, there would be no taxes on other personal property, no income taxes, no sales tax, no excise tax. All economic rent would be taken for community purposes. The single tax doctrine is a blueprint for a free society. Henry George believed society would become more stable and wholesome under a single tax program. He believed if the plan were used internationally, fundamental causes for wars would be eliminated. The founders of Fairhope organized their colony as a landowning corporation to demonstrate the effectiveness of the single tax theory. The founders believed that everyone was entitled to a “fair hope” for the future. The Single Tax Corporation founders believed justification for the single tax theory was based on natural law and rooted in adverse economic consequences that result from private profit of economic rent. They believed rent belonged to the community because it is a product of community demand for land. The supply of land was fixed by nature so there was no basis for any private claim to its income. On the other hand, taxation of individual capital or labor would be robbery. The single tax theory advocates believed land speculation was evil and served no useful purpose other than causing land monopoly of prime real estate. They argued that wages and interest would be higher in any community using the single tax and the economy would be less vulnerable to cycles of booms and depressions. Three men stand out as being most influential in the development of the Fairhope Single Tax Corporation: Ernest B. Gaston, James Bellangee, and Joseph Fels. Bellangee and Gaston organized the Fairhope Plan and submitted it to their fellow single taxers at the first meeting on January 4, 1894, in Gaston’s office in Des Moines, Iowa. At the second meeting a constitution was adopted and officers were elected. Although Fairhope was set up as a Single Tax Colony, it was different in some ways from Henry George’s ideas. The Fairhope Industrial Association set up a colony where the corporation itself instead of individuals owned land. Henry George proposed a single land tax, but he did not specifically advocate community ownership of land. He stated that one single tax on the land itself would result in optimal use of the land because landowners could not afford to let heavily taxed land lay unused. After the adoption of the constitution, a corporation charter was obtained and each member was required to pay a $200 membership fee to provide the funds purchase land and pay expenses. The corporation chose a committee to search for a location for the colony. The committee, including Bellangee, investigated sites in Arkansas, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Texas. They decided that the eastern shore of Mobile Bay would be the ideal location for the single tax community because of its climate and beauty. In November 1894, the first groups and families from Iowa, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and the Pacific coast arrived on steamers, wagons, and horseback. The first purchase of land by the colony was 132 acres, with 2,800 feet of waterfront, for $6.00 an acre. The Single Tax Colony faced many difficulties in the beginning. Most of the colonists did not know each other and were not accustomed to the South. Much of the land was not prime real estate. The Single Tax Colony could not afford at first to purchase enough land to realistically demonstrate the single tax principles. The colonists were determined to overcome adversity and make their “ideal” community a success. By 1907, the Fairhope Single Tax Corporation owned 4,000 acres and consisted of 125 homes and a population of 500. The Corporation provided public bathhouses, a school, a library, and the only public waterworks in Baldwin County. The business district consisted of a dozen stores, three hotels, a sawmill, a brickyard, a blacksmith shop, and a printing shop. In 1908, a municipal government was set up in Fairhope as a separate entity from the Fairhope Single Tax Corporation. The City of Fairhope took responsibility for all administrative duties pertaining to the city such as the maintenance of utilities and streets. The Single Tax Corporation has provided the City of Fairhope with many benefits including the beachfront park and the park on the bluff overlooking Mobile Bay. These parks were a gift to the City of Fairhope with a stipulation that they would always be used as public parks and not private use or gain. The gifts and the stipulation demonstrated that the Single Tax Corporation was still true to its founder’s beliefs and principles. Through the years, the Fairhope Single Tax Corporation has maintained the general beliefs of its founders. The Corporation is a non-profit, private landowning corporation that encourages diversity and respects each individual’s rights. Membership in the Single Tax Corporation is available anyone over the age of eighteen who believes in the principles of the Single Tax. An application must be approved and a $100 fee paid to become a member. Corporation lands are leased to members and nonmembers at an annually appraised rate and for a period of 99 years. Money collected in rent is used for public improvements. Whenever the Corporation opens up land for use it publishes a notice of availability. Anyone may apply for the land by signing an application and depositing an amount equal to the value of any Corporation owned improvements on the land plus not more than six months rent. Notice that Single Tax land has been applied for is posted for one week. Any other individual interested in the same land may apply and compete with the applicant by an offer of a bonus to the Corporation. The initial applicant is notified and given an opportunity to bid against his competitor. However, bonuses have been fairly rare. The Fairhope Single Tax Corporation imposes no restrictions on the use of its lands. The aim of the Single Tax Corporation is to make land available to the entire community, both for recreation and for the location of homes and businesses. The Single Tax Corporation has continued educating the public through a course on the single tax concept. Would the founders of Fairhope, Gaston, Bellangee, and Fels be pleased with the results of their experiment? The Single Tax Corporation has managed to maintain its holdings and to provide services to the community. It enjoys a vital friendship with the City of Fairhope and continues to operate on the unselfish principles of its founders. The present day members of the Fairhope Single Tax Corporation have carefully preserved their history and heritage. The Fairhope community is a diverse population with a strong regard for individualism and a high tolerance for the nonconformist. Is this individualism and tolerance part of the Single Tax Colony heritage? The Fairhope Single Tax Corporation has survived the changing economic, social and political philosophies of a century. The Single Tax Corporation has not only survived but has grown stronger financially. Instead of gradually losing its single tax characteristics over the years, the Single Tax Corporation has purified its policies and procedures to become more true to the single tax philosophy. The founders of Fairhope demonstrated that idealism, determination, and hard work could conquer hardships and build a successful future. Bibliography: Word Count: 1420
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