Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1890-12-18

to anywhere near their full amount
would be to utterly destroy speculative
values, and to diminish ali rents into
which this speculative element enters
And, how groundless is it to think that
landlords who have tenants could shift
a tax on land values upon their tenants.
can be readily seen from the effect upon
landlords who have no tenants. 1t is
when tenants seeh for land, not when
| landlords seek for tenants, that rent goes
up.
To put the matter in form in which
it can be easily understood let us take
two cases. The One- country where
the available land is all in use and the
competition of tenants has carried rents
to point at which the tenant pays the
landlord all he can possibly earn save
just enough to barely live. The other,
a country where all the available land
| is not in use and the rent that the land
lord can get from the tenant is limited
by the terms on which the tenant can
get access to unused land How, in
either case, il a tax were imposed upon
land values {@y remit could the landlord
compel the tenIe. to pay it?
fact that tax on :and values is not
tax on land. They are very different
things. and the difference should be
noted because confusion of thought as
to them may lead to the assumption that
q tax ON land values would falll on the
user. 4 tax upon land-that Is to say,
q tax on all land of so much per acre or
SO. much per foot-would fall on the
user. barring such effect as Il might
have On speculation. For such a tax,
falling equally on all land-on ttie'poor-
est and least advantageously situated as
fully as on the richest and best situated
land, would become a condition imposed
on the use of any land. from which there
could be no escape, and thus the owners
of rentable land could add it to their
rents. Its operation would be analogous
to that of tax on producible commod-
ity, and it would in effect reduce the
supply of land that could be used,
since no land could then be used
that would not yield sufficient to
pay the tax. But tax on economic
rent orland values would not fall on all
land; it. would fall only on valuable
land, and on that in proportion to it's
value. 1t would thus not have to DO
paid upon the poorest land in use
(Which always determines remit, and SO
would not become a condition of use, or
restrict the amount of land that could
be protitably used, and so the land own
ers on whom it fell could not shift it on
the users of land This distinction, as
to nature and effects, between tax on
land and a tax on land values, it is nee
essay to bear in mind.
1t is also necessary to bear in mind
that the value of land is something to-
tally distinct from the value of improve
ments. tits a value which arises not
from the exertion Of any particular in
dividual, but from the growth ard pro-
gress of the community. A tax on land
values, therefore, never lessons the re-
ward of exertion or accumulation. 1t
simply takesfor the whole community
that value which, tie whole community
creates.
While it is not true that tax on land
values or rent falls on the user, and thus
distributes itself through increased
prices, it is true that the greater num-
Der of taxes by which our public reve-
nues are raised do. Thus, speaking
generally, taxes upon capital fall, not
upon the owners of capital, but upon the
users of capital, and are by them trans
ferred to the consumers of whatever the
capital is used to produce; taxes upon
buildings or building materials must
ultimately be paid in increased build
ing rents orrprioes by the occupiers OF
buildings; imposts upon production or,
duties upon imports must finally fall
epon the consumers of the commodities.
This fact is far from being popularity
appreciated; for, if it were, the masses
would never consent to the systemnby'
which the greater part of our revenues
are raised. But nevertheless, it is the
vague apprehension of this that leads
by confusion, of ideas to the notion that
a tax on land values must add to rents.
This notion'will disappear if it be con-
sidered how it. is that any tax given
to the person first called on to pay it the
power of shifting it upon others by an
increase of price. The general principle
is this: A}taM upon any thing or upon
the methods or means of produe-
ton of any thing, the price Of
which is kept down by the abilityrto
produce increased supplies, will byrin-
creasing the cost of production, check
the supply and thus add to the price of
the thing, and ultimately fall on the
consumer But tax upon any thing
upon which the supply is fixed or mo-
nopolized, and Of which the cost of pro-
ductioni is not therefore determining
element, sinoeith has no effect in checking
supply. does not increase prices, and
falls entirely OF the owner.
TO BE Continued
SHORT TALK FOR FARMERS.
Taxes That Gan Kill Dogs Can Kill Mel