Henry George Foundation of Great Britain

Last updated

The Henry George Foundation (of Great Britain Ltd)
HGFlogo.png
Founded1907
Typeincorporated charity registered in England and Wales (company limited by guarantee no. 00956714, charity no. 259194)
Focuseconomic justice
Location
Product Land&Liberty
Method think tank
Key people
David Triggs (Executive Chairman)
Revenue
membership & supporters
Website http://www.henrygeorgefoundation.org

The Henry George Foundation is an independent UK economic and social justice think tank and public education group concerned with "the development of sound relationships between the citizen, our communities (from the local to the global) and our shared natural and common resources". The Henry George Foundation describes itself as "active on three broad fronts: research, education, and advocacy". [1] The Foundation takes its name from Henry George, the 19th Century economist and proponent of the taxation of land values.

Contents

Activities

The Henry George Foundation is the publisher of the magazine Land&Liberty . The Foundation holds educational courses and organises conferences and other public events focussing on tax reform issues. It has sponsored academic research, published extensively, and advised legislators, civil servants and NGOs on land and tax reform matters.

History

The Henry George Foundation is the present-day successor of a series of organisations and names that hails back to the United Committee for the Taxation of Land Values. The UCTLV was constituted on 23 March 1907 [2] [3] (a previous 'United Committee' had been formed in 1887 [4] ) as a coordinating body for a number of organisations with the shared object of promoting the taxation of land values. [5] These organisations continued to exist in parallel with the United Committee, and included a number of regional leagues for the taxation of land values and also the national bodies the English League for the Taxation of Land Values and the Scottish League for the Taxation of Land Values. [6]

In 1969 (the regional leagues mostly having folded, with only the Scottish League in continuing existence) the United Committee launched ESSRA (Economic and Social Science Research Association), a registered charity, and transferred much of its activity to it. [7] In 1991 the United Committee changed its name to the Centre for Incentive Taxation. Five years later, in 1996, all activities and assets of the various associated companies and other entities and initiatives (including publication of Land and Liberty) were re-gathered under the umbrella of the charitable company ESSRA, or were terminated, and the holding bodies dissolved. ESSRA then changed its name to The Henry George Foundation of Great Britain, Ltd. [8] [9] [10]

Related Research Articles

National Centre Party (Ireland) Defunct political party in the Irish Free State

The National Centre Party, initially known as the National Farmers and Ratepayers League, was a short-lived political party in the Irish Free State. It was founded on 15 September 1932 in the Mansion House, Dublin, with the support of several sitting TDs, including the three Farmers' Party members and thirteen Independents, all of whom feared for their political future if they did not coordinate in a common organisation. Prominent among the latter were party leader Frank MacDermot, a TD for Roscommon since the general election of February 1932, and James Dillon, a TD for Donegal, who was the son of John Dillon, the last leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party.

The Scots National League (SNL) was a political organisation which campaigned for Scottish independence in the 1920s. It amalgamated with other Scottish nationalist bodies in 1928 to form the National Party of Scotland.

The London Swinton Circle is a long-running British right-wing pressure group. The group states that its purpose is to uphold traditional conservative and Unionist principles.

The National Democratic and Labour Party, usually abbreviated to National Democratic Party (NDP), was a short-lived political party in the United Kingdom.

The Communist League of Great Britain was an anti-revisionist group in the United Kingdom.

The Irish Workers' Group (IWG) was a Marxist political party in Ireland. It originated as the Irish Workers Union, which later called itself the Irish Communist Group, and contained a variety of people who all considered themselves to be Marxists. Some were from an Irish Republican background, and some, including Gerry Lawless, also became involved in Saor Éire.

Commonwealth Land Party (UK)

The Commonwealth Land Party was a Stoke based political party in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1919 by J. W. Graham Peace and R. L. Outhwaite as the Commonwealth League, and was initially associated with the Independent Labour Party. It campaigned for the redistribution of land and the abolition of all taxation other than land rent.

The National Assembly Against Racism (NAAR) was a British anti-racist and anti-fascist group.

The National Progressive Democrats was a small socialist political party in the Republic of Ireland, active between 1958 and 1963. The party was founded as a left-wing progressive secular party. Its founders were Noël Browne and Jack McQuillan, former members of the social democratic wing of Clann na Poblachta.

The Indian Empire Society was a London-based lobbying organization, formed in 1930 to promote the cause of the British Empire in India.

Muintir na hÉireann was a minor political party in Ireland, with socially conservative and populist policies. It was founded in 1994 and active in the 1990s. The party had one public representative, former Green Party councillor Richard Greene, who served one term on Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown County Council from 1991 to 1999. Greene left the Green Party in protest at its "left-wing social agenda", particularly its refusal to adopt a pro-life policy on abortion, and his party reflected his views on issues such as family values and the extradition of republican POWs to the United Kingdom.

The National Peace Council (NPC), founded in 1908 and disbanded in 2000, acted as the co-ordinating body for almost 200 groups across Britain, with a membership ranging from small village peace groups to national trade unions and local authorities. The groups were all united in their interest in peace, human rights, justice and the environment.

Land&Liberty is a quarterly magazine of popular political economics: its focus is the relationship between land and natural resource rights and 21st century economic policy. Published in the UK it covers international affairs and events from a global perspective.

The Irish Monetary Reform Association was a minor Irish political party of the 1940s. It was little more than an electoral vehicle for Oliver J. Flanagan, the long-serving TD for the constituency of Laois–Offaly. As such, it is difficult to draw conclusions about the party independent from those about Flanagan himself. Monetary Reform can be seen as the most successful of a wave of minor far right parties in 1940s Ireland, like Ailtirí na hAiséirighe. Flanagan played on certain themes of the Social Credit movement, which accentuated his image as an anti-Semitic politician.

The Business and Professional Group was a minor political party in the Irish Free State that existed between 1922 and 1923. It largely comprised ex-Unionist businessmen and professionals.

The English League for the Taxation of Land Values was a Georgist political group. It was a historic precursor of two present-day reform bodies: the international umbrella organisation the IU and the UK think tank the Henry George Foundation. The object of the League was

the taxation for national and local purposes of the 'unimproved value of the land', ie the value of the land apart from the buildings or other improvements in or upon it. The League actively support[ed] all proposals in Parliament for separate valuation of land, and for making land values the basis of national and local taxation.

The British League of Ex-Servicemen and Women (BLESMAW) was a British ex-service organisation that became associated with far right politics during and after the Second World War.

The Victoria League for Commonwealth Friendship (1901–present) is a voluntary charitable organisation that connects people from Commonwealth countries. There are currently branches in the UK, Australia, and New Zealand with affiliated organisations in Canada and the USA. It is headquartered in Bayswater, London, United Kingdom.

The Militant Christian Patriots (MCP) were a short-lived but influential anti-Semitic organisation active in the United Kingdom immediately prior to the Second World War. It played a central role in the ultimately unsuccessful attempts to keep the UK out of any European war.

References

  1. "The Henry George Foundation" . Retrieved 31 July 2009.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
  2. Joseph Edwards, ed. (21 July 1909). Land and Real Tariff Reform. The Land Reformers’ Handbook (First Edition of First Issue ed.). London: Joseph Edwards with The Clarion Press, LD and ILP, New Age Press TCP. p. 73.
  3. Land Values, vol. XI, no. 156, May 1907, p. 237
  4. Edwards 1909, p. 78
  5. Barberis, Peter, John McHugh and Mike Tyldesley, Encyclopedia of British and Irish Political Organizations, London: Continuum International Publishing Group, 2007. pp.34-35
  6. Barberis, Peter, John McHugh and Mike Tyldesley, Encyclopedia of British and Irish Political Organizations, London: Continuum International Publishing Group, 2007. p.23
  7. Memorandum and Articles of Association Incorporated 23 June 1969, as Amended on 17 April 1996
  8. two personal email communications from Barbara Sobrielo to Peter Gibb, 27 August 2009 10:54:06 BST and 16:22:35 BST
  9. Land&Liberty vol. 103, no. 1179
  10. Barberis, Peter, John McHugh and Mike Tyldesley, Encyclopedia of British and Irish Political Organizations, London: Continuum International Publishing Group, 2007. p.28