The
Single Tax League was an
Australian political party that flourished throughout the 1920s and 30s. Based upon the ideas of
Henry George, who argued that all taxes should be abolished, save for a single tax on unimproved land values, the Single Tax League was founded shortly after World War I, and a newspaper, the
People's Advocate was published. The League had pockets of support throughout
Australia but none more than on the west coast of
South Australia, whose farmers and graziers saw merit in
single tax theory.
The League's sole parliamentary representative was
Edward Craigie, who was elected to the
South Australian House of Assembly Electoral district of Flinders [[covering the League's west coast power base) in 1930. The onset of the
Great Depression in 1929 had led people to seek radical solutions and the manifesto of the League seemed as likely to solve their woes as any government devised plan.
Craigie worked tirelessly to have a single tax system instituted in South Australia but faced stiff opposition from the conservative
Liberal Federation [[and their successors, the
Liberal and Country League), which despised the idea of a single tax, and the
Australian Labor Party, which was opposed to the League's
Free trade stance.
Craigie was re-elected at the 1933 and 1938 South Australian elections before being defeated at the 1941 election, when the ideas of the Single Tax League already seemed an anachronism to most people. The League did not field any further candidates and drifted into obscurity.