Henry George made a remedial call for site value tax paid by the owner of the land based on the potential annual rental value of whatever land is held. Land, in this context, refers to the surface areas of the earth that serve as development sites, especially within urban jurisdictions, and are typically subject to some form of property taxation. Henry George’s ideas on land taxation influenced tax policies in countries colonized by the British, in particular, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and South Africa. However, his influence in Africa has not been explored. Taking Kenya as a case country, this study investigates the diffusion of George’s ideas in Africa and to Kenya, examines the implementation of these ideas in Kenya and evaluates the outcome of their application to draw insights from the Kenyan experience. The study found that Henry George’s idea of site value taxation, introduced to the country through South Africa under the influence of the British Liberal Party, is the driving factor of urban land taxation in Kenya. In this respect, the unimproved site value remains the principal land tax levied in Kenya to date. However, the single tax proposal was not considered by the policymakers in the process of land taxation policy development.
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