Keval Patel
This treatise proposes the Geographic Externality Tax (GET), a spatial Pigouvian correction aimed at addressing the wealth leakage and loss of agency inherent in detached corporate structures. The GET raises tax liability as a function of distance between a transaction point and a corporate "hearth" (the locus of decision-making), using a weighted multi-hearth model to internalize the unpriced externality of geographic detachment. Drawing on the local money multiplier effect, the social cost of geographic detachment, and more, the GET incentivizes economic embeddedness, protects local cultural commons, and reallocates decision-making authority without abandoning market mechanisms. The paper addresses administrative, legal, and political critiques, and positions the GET as an effective counter to centralized AGI governance.
Geographic Externality Tax, Localism, Pigouvian Tax, Libertarian Humanism, Georgism, Corporate Taxation, Libertarianism, Homogenization, Local Embeddedness
Keval Patel*, The University of Nevada, Las Vegas, USA.
*Corresponding Author: Keval Patel, The University of Nevada, Las Vegas, USA.
*Correspondence: kevkpatel@gmail.com
Patel, K. (2026). The Geographic Externality Tax: A Spatial Pigouvian Correction to Modern Tax Structure. Econ Dev Glob Mark, 2(2), 01-22.
D62 — Externalities
R11 — Regional Economic Activity: Growth, Development, Environmental Issues, and Changes
Z10 — Cultural Economics; Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology