Stupidity of taxing production

If men want more wealth, why don’t they get more wealth? If we, as a people, want more wealth (and certainly ninety-nine out of every hundred Americans do want more wealth), why are some suffering from the want of employment? Others are at work without making a living. Meanwhile, ninety-nine out of a hundred of the people have some legitimate desire that they would like to gratify. Well, in the first place, if we want more wealth – if we call that country prosperous which is increasing in wealth – is it not a piece of stupidity that we should tax men for producing wealth? Yet that is what we are doing today.

“Our Land and Land Policy”, Henry George, 1871