The single tax

The single tax is the economic doctrine of the American thinker Henry George, which Prince Dmitri Ivanovitch Nekhludoff adopts as the guiding principle for resolving the land question on his inherited estates. The system holds that land, like water, air, and sunshine, cannot be anyone's property; all have an equal right to its use. The single tax would require those who use better land to pay the value of that land into a communal fund, thereby eliminating the need for landlords and the injustice of private ownership. Nekhludoff first encounters these ideas as a university student while writing an essay on land tenure, and they become a cornerstone of his youthful idealism.

Nekhludoff's Early Conviction and Its Decline

During his third year at the university, Nekhludoff reads Herbert Spencer's Social Statics and is particularly impressed by Spencer's views on landholding, which are later corroborated by Henry George's works. As the heir to large estates—his mother received 10,000 acres of land for her dowry—he fully realizes the cruelty and injustice of private property in land. Being one of those to whom a sacrifice to the demands of conscience gives the highest spiritual enjoyment, he decides not to retain property rights and gives the small piece of land he inherited from his father to the peasants. This act fills his relatives with dismay and becomes a source of mockery. However, after entering the army and adopting the luxurious habits of his aristocratic circle, Nekhludoff abandons these convictions. He ceases to ask himself where the money his mother allows him comes from, and the question of land ownership is forgotten.

The Renewed Crisis and the Decision to Act

After his mother's death, Nekhludoff inherits her large estates and is forced to confront the contradiction between his former beliefs and his current life. He must choose between giving up his property, as he had done ten years before, or silently confessing that all his former ideas were mistaken. He cannot choose the former because he has no means but the landed estates and has formed luxurious habits he cannot easily give up. Yet denying the clear and unanswerable proofs of the injustice of landholding, which he drew from Spencer and Henry George, is also impossible. This inner conflict is resolved after his moral awakening following Maslova's trial. He decides to let the land to the peasants at a low rent, not as a gift, but as a step toward a less rude form of slavery. He recognizes that this is not the single-tax system, but it is as near an approach to it as can be had under existing circumstances.

The Attempted Implementation at Kousminski and Panovo

At his estate Kousminski, Nekhludoff explains his project to the steward, who cannot understand why the prince would give up his own profit for the benefit of others. The steward imagines that Nekhludoff will still receive the percentages from the communal capital. When Nekhludoff insists he is giving up the land altogether, the steward sighs heavily and concludes that the prince is not quite normal. The peasants, though they accept the offer, are not satisfied and have expected something greater. Nekhludoff feels ashamed and dissatisfied with himself. At his other estate, Panovo, the peasants are even more suspicious. They are fully convinced that landlords always consider their own interest to the detriment of the peasants, and they refuse the offer outright, preferring to go on the old way. Only after Nekhludoff gives away money in charity and the peasants come to believe he is acting for the salvation of his soul do they finally agree to his terms.

The Single Tax as a Moral and Practical Solution

Nekhludoff's understanding of the single tax deepens during his time in Panovo. He sees that the chief cause of the people's great want is that the land which alone could feed them has been taken from them by the landlords. He realizes that the earth cannot be bought or sold any more than water, air, or sunshine, and that all have an equal right to the advantages it gives to men. He forms a project to let the land to the peasants and to acknowledge the rent they pay for it as their property, to be kept to pay taxes and for communal uses. This, he believes, is the only sure means to lighten the people's condition. The single tax thus becomes for Nekhludoff not merely an economic theory but the practical embodiment of his moral awakening, a way to stop participating in the evil of private land ownership and to begin living according to the truth he has rediscovered.