St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-01-20
TAXATION.


TAXATION.
Very few persons have the remotest
expectation of ever seeing HENRY
GEORGES single tax idea incorporated
into our tax laws, and yet every one is
ready to admit that Mr.. GEORGE is ac-
complishing great deal of good by agi-
Eating the question. He has set the peo-
pie to thinking, and some tax reforms
will come of it that would never other
wise have been accomplished.
This world is very old, and yet in all
its ages there has been no more pulling
question in connection with human
government than how to secure per-
fectly equitable system of taxation. 1t
is as much of a puzzle to-day as it was
in the earlier centuries. With all the
experience of the past to govern US, and
with all the enlightenment that the
thousands of years have brought in their
train, we are as far from satisfactory
solution of the problem as were those
who first organized human society. Up
to this time the nearest approach to a
satisfactory tax system is the one
founded upon the ad valorem plan of
taxing all property according to It's as
sessed valuation. Still, the inequalities
of this system are so numerous and so
glazing that the taxpayers are contin-
ually disgruntled, and are demanding
changes.
The principal difficulty encountered
in establishing tax system upon what
is apparently so just plan as the ad
valorem principle is in distinguishing
between labor and capital-or in other
words, to determine how much labor
and how much actual money is repre-
scented in certain articles of value. We
take the product of some manufacture
ing establishment, for example. The
article itself has a market value which
is the guide for the assessor in fixing its
valuation for taxable purposes. Yet
there is certain per cent of that arti-
cle's value which represents SO many
drops of honest sweat that fell from the
brow of the artisan who produced it.
In taxing that article at its market
value we impose tax on the mechanics
the assessor can separate the value of
the artisans labor from the actual
money value the article contains. The
injustice of such a.system has impressed
people in all ages; and yet, singularly
enough, no one has suggested remedy
that is practicable, or if practicable that
would be desirable.
The remedy suggested by Mr.. GEORGE
overleaps the mark. He swings clear
beyond the line of equitable adjustment,
for while he would remove the inequali-
ties now existing he would create others
of a more serious nature. We take it,
then, that there must be middle
ground somewhere between the exist
ing tax system and the GEORGE idea
that would be just about the point de-
sired in marking out an equitable tax
system. In inaugurating tax reform
we should start out upon the general
principle that all capital should be
taxed and all labor exempted from taxa
ton, and by adhering to that idea as
nearly as is practicable we can surely
reach an adjustment which, while it may
not be absolutely equitable, will so
closely conform to our ideas of human
justice as to be eminently satisfactory
to all classes of our population. To
illustrate, we would tax farming lands
but exempt farm products: we would
tax timber lanus but exempt the timber
when severed, we would tax manu-
featuring plants but exempt the prod
ucts of manufactures, we would tax
mines but exempt their products;
and thus through all the de-
partments of industrial life we
would tax the visible articles represent
ing so much actual capital. while we
would exempt those things that are the
fruit of manual labor. In the same way
we would tax bank capital and railroad
stock, but exempt the earnings, because
those earnings represent SO much thrift
and industry. In this way we can re-
move from our tax system that feature
which has the aspect of being fine on
labor and industry, while we retain all
that should be the legitimate subject of
taxation.
With all his argumentative power.
Mr.. GEORGE has failed to convince us
that buildings or improvements should
be exempted from taxation. 1t is true
that manual labor is required in their
construction, but it must be remem-
bered that the labor expended in con-
structing a building has received an
equivalent in hard cash, and the build
ing, when completed, represents solely
so much capital. The owner gets an IN
terest or dividend on his capital from
the rental of the building. 1t is his
bank stock. the only difference being
that he prefers to put his capital into a
house, rather than to start bank with
it. And so when the farmer builds
barn or new fence it has an actual
cash value to him. He prefers to have
the benefit of the barn or the fence
rather than to have the interest on the
money he put into it.
JEW AND GENTLE.
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