The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1890-11-20

in our states and cities we tax tn
man who adds to the common stocl
of wealth. Is it not as stupid as it
, unjust? We ought to welcome thos
who can produce wealth. We ough
to give them every opportunity to in
crease their wealth. Make no mis-.
take. No matter how rich man ma,
iget by producing wealth, he does NJ
harm to others.
No matter how selfish such a mar
may be, he cannot add to his own for
tune in that way without doing some
thing else for his fellows. He cannot
build factories, plant trees and erect
houses without adding to the wealth
of the community, without doing
something for others besides himself.
There are places where the result OF
this system is clearly obvious. The
next time you go to Brooklyn you may
have an opportunity to see brown
stone houses two or three stories high
in front and three or four stories high
in the rear. What is the reason of
this? In Brooklyn the assessor is sup
posed to look only at the front of the
houses, so, if the house is two stories
i in front he assesses two-story tax,
and if three stories in front three
story tax, so, by putting one addi-
tional story in the back part of build
ing they get hall story without any
tax. This effect of taxation of houses
in Brooklyn is here clearly and plainly
to press the roof down in front. In
France they tax windows, and accord
ing to statistics there are not less
than 100000 houses in France in
which families dwell without windows.
We do not tax windows here in
America, although there is a tax on
window glass for the benefit of a ring
in Pennsylvania and Ohio. And we
also tax buildings, and l have seen in
this state of yours, as 1 rode along the
railroad houses without any windows
at all.
~ have been examining your comp
troller's report, and find that here
in Texas you tax nearly everything
The doctor you tax, and you need
him. The dentist you tax, and you
need him. You gave great quantities
of land to secure railroads, and yet
you tax them"
Continuing, Mr.. George argued that
the poor paid the taxes, and rich es.
capped them. "Let farmer, for in
stance, buy buggy, or piano, or have
his house or barn painted and every
body knows it, and down it goes on
the tax rolls, but when you come into
the cities how do you get at them.
l see by reference to your comp
troller's report that in Blanco county
the tax assessor found $119,943 in
cash on hand. Then look at Travis
county with the beautiful citv in it
and l see the assessor found only
Sl96,579 on hand. In Dallas county
with the largest city in the state and
more wealthy men it than in any
other city, 1 find the assess
sor assessed $262,195 cash
on hand while in Colorado county the
assessor found $393,7S5. The rich
evade the taxes, the poor pay them"
Mr.. George then said: We are pro-
posing nothing revolutionary in the
single tax. There is nothing new in
it but the single. We are already
levying some tax on land values-we
propose only to abolish all other taxes
unit We reach the tax on real estate,
and then by exempting improvements,
to raise all taxes from land values.
By the method we propose in the
single lax, private possessions can be
secured while the essence of common
ownership is secured. Land will be
held formally as it is today, and the
owner will be permitted to sell and be-
queath, as now, but take for the com
munity that premium value which
attaches to land by growth and in
provement, thus placing all men on
the same plane OF opportunity. 1t
is only this equality that we desire.
We know that men differ in their
powers of application. Ali we ask is
that all shall be given a fair start;
that they shall have equality of right
to what the Creator has given and
what the growth and improvement of
society brings.
Mr.. George then answered several
questions propounded to him. and
wound up his discussion by saying
that he did not expect to make any
converts by his discourse but he
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