The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1881-07-21
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some weeks ago VIC incidentally gayt
expression to our opposition to the prop
osi,on, which is how actively being dis
cnsscd, that all government revenue:
should be raised by taxing land value,
exclusively. This week wc publish some
extracts from the late work of Mr.. Henry
George, who was the originator Of the
idea. Mr.. George is q strong writer, an
acute thinker and a shrcwd dcbatcr, but
il seems to us that the views he advances
in the extracts we publish arc evidently
iallacious, if not communists The
idea for taxing land alone is TO destroy
it, value AS far IL possible, 81 A. to
cheaper ii, and throw it open To all com
crs, aud this i, advocated on the ground
that it will encourage labor and promote
enterprise. Just wherein land differs
from other property in its relation to
labor is not made 50 clear 10y Mr.. George
as he seems to assume. That land is AS
much the representative Of labor rs Il
horse, a COW, or United States bond, is
easily dcnonstrablc. It's value is fixed
hy the income which can be derived from
it, and nothing short Of this value will
secure it, except in case of government
land which is given to The first settler, or
sold It Il nominal figure. His argument
for taxing land must DC applicable to
converted land, for government Which
owned all of its territory could derive no
money from taxing itself, and after it
has been converted into private property
it becomes the representative Of labor,
and nothing more nor less. Its method
OF requirement is more formal than that
Of personal property, but it is paid for in
dollars and cents. or other commodities.
which are the creatures Of labor. Not
only is land the representative of II GER
tain amount Of labor, but ~ matter Of
fact it is the most necessary of all the
acquisitions which labor gives to man
and t" tax il alone is to burden the ne
cessity Of mankind with the support Of
the government, and raise from The tillcr
OF the soil the revenues to which the
mechanic, he merchant and the profcs-
sionnl man should also contribute. 1t
would be Il most unfair and burdensomc
method of taxation, for by it one class
of our citizens would pay nl of the
taxes, while others, whose labor is MS
easy or easier, and rs remuncratiyc or
more so, would pny nothing. The small
farmer. with Il hundred acres Of ridge
land, worth five hundred dollars, would
contribute one hundred times Is much
rs the man of leisure and fortune who
might own one acre of the same kind of
land, with u dwelling worth twenty five
or fifty thousand dollars upon it.
Again, by the operation Of such Il sys.
tenn the towns, which control the trade
of the country and reap great advantages
from it, would pay little or nothing to-
wards the support OF the government,
which gives them the same protection as
II does to the countryman who would
pay the expenses Of maintaining that
government. For example, the town of
Anderson now pays about onc-iifth of all
the taxes raised in this County. whereas
II would not pay more than one two
hunIrcdth part OF those taxes under the
proposed system or again, Charleston
County, which now pays about onc.,hird
or the taxes Of Tie State, would not pay
more than onc-twcnticth, and yet by tho
change agricultural labor would not be
advanced, nor would the siness of An
derson or Charleston be lessened. The
proposition of Mr.. George, while commu-
nislic III its appearance, is quite the re-
verse in reality. 1t is, when fully reduc-
cd to its ultimate analysis, nothing more
nor less than shrewd plan for relieving
capital of taxation, and placing it who'll.
upon labor. 1t is fairer and r,.ter for
every man to pay his proper proportion
on all OF his property for the support of
The government which protects all alike.