It has been.

The most famous and complete historical case of pure Georgist policy in action was the German Kiaochow Bay leasehold—modern-day Qingdao, China—from 1898 to 1914. Implemented by the naval administrator Dr. Wilhelm Schrameier, the colony enacted a 6% Land Value Tax (LVT) coupled with a 33% tax on the “unearned increment” (speculative profit) of land sales. Buildings and capital improvements were completely tax-exempt.

The policy achieved extraordinary results before being cut short by World War I (as was the land tax proposed in the 1909 ‘People’s Budget’ in the UK.): –

• Eliminated Speculation: It prevented the land speculation that plagued other colonial trade ports.
• Rapid Development: Private builders quickly constructed high-quality infrastructure because improvements weren’t penalized by taxes.
• Self-Funding State: The land tax fully funded the local government, creating a highly prosperous model city.
• Global Inspiration: The success of Qingdao directly inspired Sun Yat-sen, the founding father of modern China, to incorporate Georgist land-reform principles into his framework for building an independent nation.

Other Georgist” Success Stories

While Kiaochow was the most historically precise case, other economies have achieved significant success using the Georgist framework: –

Singapore: The government owns roughly 90% of the country’s land and leases it out, capturing the economic rent to fund public services and world-class housing initiatives.

Taiwan: Influenced by Sun Yat-sen, Taiwan implemented a dual-tax system in the mid-20th century that taxed land heavily while keeping building taxes low, driving its rapid post-war industrialization and equal wealth distribution.

Politicians are dangerously obsessed with national (public) debt while ignoring the catastrophic reality of escalating private debt. The fundamental differences and dynamics between the two lie in their origins and their impact on economic stability: –

The Core: Land Speculation vs. Public Spending

• Private Debt (The Real Threat): Skyrocketing private debt is not driven by productive investments, but by ever-inflating land prices and real estate speculation. Because Australia’s tax system taxes wages and capital heavily instead of capturing economic rents, money is systematically channelled into land bubbles, creating an unsustainable pyramid of private debt.

• National Debt (The Distraction): Political panic over public spending and the so-called ‘national debt’ from deficit budgets is a distraction. Public debt (borrowing) in a sovereign currency country like Australia is especially manageable once it’s understood to be completely unnecessary.

• Disproportionate Scale

• There’s a massive mismatch in scale between the two, anyway. While governments decry a “fiscal emergency” over public debt (historically at low percentages of GDP), they remain completely silent on the private debt-to-GDP ratios which exceed 150% to 170%, pushing Australia to some of the highest private debt levels in the world. [1]

• Economic Consequences and Systemic Risk

• Private Debt Generates Depressions: Grounded in the 18.6-year property cycle, private debt will eventually outstrip citizens’ productive capacity. When this bubble bursts, the collapse of private credit will trigger severe recessions or depressions. [1]

• National ‘Debt’ is a Symptom: So-called national debt surges after a private debt crisis occurs. When the real estate bubble bursts, the government is forced to step in to bail out failing financial institutions and rescue the collapsing economy.

The Common Sense (Georgist) Solution

Ultimately, if governments abolish taxes on productivity (income and corporate taxes, and taxes on purchases) and instead implement comprehensive taxes on economic rents (to reduce land prices and monopolies), this fosters productivity and curbs speculative activities. It then becomes impossible to reach these toxic levels of private debt and generates economic prosperity.

Such change obviously requires doing now.

We need vimmlbutt urgently!

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Land value is a progressive and efficient property tax base.

If federal government bonds and land prices are both essentially scams that benefit rent-seekers at everyone else’s expense, why do we tolerate them? Cui bono?

Surely, rent-seekers are the sole beneficiaries.

We sorely need financial reform, guys! ….. Or else!

Simpliciter.

For the information of those who may have wondered what occurred, I used to have an X (Twitter) account, @bryankav123 with about 2500 followers, until it was hacked on 25 May 2026. The false message “Just got my new Land Cruiser!” appeared against my name. The hijacker also set up a fake account, @BryanKavanagh7.

After numerous attempts since to have X rectify the situation to no avail, I’m reconciled to no longer having the account. It actually provides me more time to spend here.

However, as X was unable to fix the issue, it’s makes me wonder whether Elon Musk’s decision to sack so many Twitter employees was wise if staff remaining are unable to manage such a basic issue as this. How many others have been terminally affected by skullduggery?

Geoffrey Watson SC is the Australian anti-corruption barrister and director of the Centre for Public Integrity currently leading investigations into organised crime and union corruption within the Construction, Forestry and Maritime Employees Union (CFMEU).

When that’s done, maybe he’s the man to lead an investigation into the mother of all corruptions? That is, the banking, real estate and media corruption against the Australian people that has our total land prices at ten trillion dollars, or $375,000 per head for every man, woman and child? (ABS 5204 Table 61)

After all, this overarching corruption is about to generate another great depression.

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Yes, but let’s remember that the so-called ‘national debt’ consists of bonds and treasuries, guys, and they’re a rort, anyway.

The more important debt is the impossible level of private debt, largely mortgage debt, the greater part represented by land prices which should not exist. They need to be taxed away instead of earned incomes.

And, as we’re a long way from doing that, the financial crisis you guys discuss is about to unfold – relentlessly!