Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1889-10-03
THURSDAY. OCTOBER 8, 1889.

eotn npdFatlNety poor, tne.y therefore, pay
| little tax and cannot at any rate be
robbed to great extent.
Watch the taxation juggler closely
and you will see how it is that his cum
| ming has SO deluded the people that they
| do not observe that the rich men pay
practically no taxes at all, while the
laborers pay both for themselves and
| for their rich employers, and it is just
that which keeps them poor.
The truth is simply this: 1t is la Dor
that produces all human wealth. The
laborer in the city or in the country,
including in the word "la aborer"alI w no
actually produce anything of value,
whether by skill of hand or of brain,
produces the sum total 0: all wealth
that exists. If taxes are paid from this
SUN, is it not the Iaborer that pays
them? The taxes of Jay Gould or the
Vanderbilts are paid by the telegraph
operators, the ticket sellers, the con-
ductors. engineers, brakemen and other
laborers who are kept constantly at
work transferring the money from the
pockets of those who use the telegraph
or railroad into the pockets of these
rich men. The stockholders of the
road produce absolutely nothing, and
yet lay by an enormous surplus. Can
you tell how: The Astors, the great
real estate holders of New York, are
fo h11ln lnpclxy nd ,afo Iov n hp1H
they do absolutely nothing to add to
the wealth of the country. Who pays
their taxes? They themselves produce
from which they can be paid.
The deluded people think that by
taxing the property of these rich men
they tax the rich men.
It is an entire mistake. Whenever
you tax personal property you lay the
burden on the labor which produces
that property.
You build house. Then that house |
should belong to you so absolutely that
the tax assessor should have no right |
to take from you single cent on ac-
count of that house TO replenish the
public treasury.
The public did not build the house
and docs not own it, and has no moral
right to take from you the fruit of your
labor, in the form of taxes, TO do it is
to rob you. To do SO is to burden in
lustry, and put premium upon idle
ness.
Taxation of property reduces wages.
The head of great mandatory can
give his mon higher wages if his ma
ckiuery is dntaXed, than if it is taxed,
and com petition will compel him to do
so. The merchant will sell his goods
a little cheaper if you remove from his
store the burden of taxation.
But the chief argument against the
taxation of the products of industry is
that it is morally wrong.
The editor of the Christian Union in
a recent number says: Every man
has natural right as against all other
men, to what be has himself produced
by labor, whether of hand or brain. 1t
may be taken without his consent, as
in taxation, but not without giving
him an equivalent, as for example, in
governmental protection"
We need government, but are you
sure you have governmental protection
FOR the property on which you pay
taxes? A burglar breaks into your
house and robs you. 90 to the govern
ment, show your tax receipts and de-
mand that since you have paid for its
protection, it makes good your losses.
See if you are not advised to buy a
burglar alarm, gun, and watch dog
and protect yourself.
Nevertheless, we need government.
How are its revenues to be raised? Not
from that house you built, for that is
your own. Not from that store or
that factory. These are not only pri-
vate property, but they serve the pub
lie and the man who builds them has
benefited the community and should
be rewarded rather than taxed for it.
Let the town, county, state and fed
eral government levy taxes On public
You ask what that is. Did
you not notice that when you improv-
ed your farm or built your house in
town or put up a store or factory,
what else you did at the same time?
You added a market value to your
neighbor's farm or your neighbours
town lot, entirely irrespective of his
The entire public
shares in that value, and it is that
which should bear all expense of taxa
ton. This is what Is called the single
tax on land values. E. P. FOSTER.
Cincinnati, Ohio.