The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1885-06-24


farmer, he maintains, who has cleared
his land, built houses, cultivated crops,
has added so much to the common
stock of wealth and ought to profit by
it. To tax him on these improvements
is to punish him for adding to the gen.
eral wealth. "The effect of our pres
ent SYSTEM" Mr.. George says, which
taxes a man for values created by his
labor and capital, is to put a fine upon
industry and repress Improvement
The more houses, the more crops, the
more buildings in the country, the bet
ter for us all, and we are doing our
selves an injury by imposing taxes
upon the production of such things"
The value of the land considered as
waste land is to be ascertained by its
selling price. "The value of land is
more easily and certainly ascertained
than any other value. Land lies out of
doors, everybody can see it, and in
every neighborhood close idea of its
value can be had" In the case of tim
bered lands, natural timber is part of
the land, and when it has value, adds to
the value of land. On general princi-
pies, land denuded of timber would be
taxed less than land that has timber.
If public policy forbids the cutting of
timber, natural timber, like planted
timber, might be considered an i'm
provement and would not add to taxa
bic value. Mr.. Field supposed the case
of the owner of wild timber lands who
has cut off the timber, put up buildings
and brought the land under cultivation.
Would you tax him." he asked, " less
than the man who has retained his land
with the timber on?" Mr.. Georges
reply is a general statement of his the
DRY. "I would tax" he says, &" the
value of his land, irrespective of the
improvements made by him, whether
they consisted in clearing, in blowing,
or in building. In other words, | would
tax that value that is created by the
growth of the community, not that
created by individual effort. Land has
no value on account of improvements
made upon it, or on account of its nat
ural capabilities. 1t is as population
increases and society develops that
land-values appear, and they rise in
proportion to the growth of population
and social development" A man that
goes West, takes up land, pays the gov
eminent price and does nothing to the
land, would be taxed as heavily as the
man that took up a like amount and
improved it. He would tax the man
whose farm is worth 81 900 as much
as the adjoining owner, who, having
the same quantity of land, has added
improvements worth 100000. He
would tax the owners of city lots and
houses on the value of the land as va
cant lots, nothing on the houses. The
owner of vacant lot valued at 81 900
and the proprietor of a lot of the same
value with buildings worth $40, 900,
would be taxed alike. In regard to
liabilities, Mr.. George would leave
them as at present. His theory is con-
fined to the taxing of land. Its effect,
however, if carried as far as he would
like to carry it, would be to make the
community the real owner of land, and
the various nominal owners virtually
tenants, paying ground rent in the shape
of taxes. As taxes were increased ON
land-values, the owner of a house and
lot, while still continuing to enjoy the
full ownership of the house, would de-
rive less and less of the pecuniary ben
efits of the ownership of the lot, which
would go in larger and larger proper
tions to the state, until, if the taxation
of land-values were carried to the point
of appropriating them entirely, the state
would derive all those benefits, and
though nominally still the owner, he
would become in reality a tenant with
assured possession so long as he con-
tinued to pay the tax which would then
become in form, as it would be in es.
sence, ground rent" This tax the
author of this scheme would increase
indefinitely up to the annual renta
value of the land, and he would devote
the vast revenue thus raised to the or
binary expenses of the government, tC
such beneficial objects as might from
time to time suggest themselves, ever
"to the payment of fixed sum tC
every citizen when he came to Ger
tain age" The objection that an in
crease in the army of office-holder:
would be required for the collection ant
disbursement of this enormous sum OF
money is met by the claim that it would
greatly reduce the present army of office
holders, since tax upon land-valuei
can be levied and collected with mucl
smaller force than is now required fol
our multiplicity of taxes. "This sim
plification of government" Mr.. Georg,
believes, "would do very much t
purify politics." As conclusion o
| ha xx,bn1a n.