Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1890-10-09
SINGLE TAX DEPARTMENT.
WHY THE BARN WASN'T BUILT

= anu ihiiI<e your nome look
iuhdreu per cent better, TO say nothing
q the saving. Why, that old tumble
down barn doesn't hold more than one
nan OF your hay and grain, and the loss
from stacking DIT Of doors must be far
more THAI the Interest on the cost OF
new barn Besides that old rcoIzerv is
disgrace on such fine land as you have
mere. and then there must be some
danger g its blowing down in one OF
these heavy gales and killing some OF
your stock"
We'll. Frank" answered his uncle,
''all you say is true enough. but guess
you don't iast understand the situation.
You see, in the first place. I haven't
quite enough saved up to build such
barn as want, and SO would have TO
hire some money and pay interest On il;
but Their ! wouldn't think Of building al
present If had more than enough.
why. Uncle Ben, don't you want bet
ter bUi.ainrS?"
''Of course / do, nv boy; but then YOU
see just as soon as I put up new barn
the assessor would come along and raise
the valuation Of my farm. and the taxes
would hc so heavy that it would take
about ali could raise 10 pay them. Only
last year ! cleared up ana drained that
bit Of swamp land down beside the road
there ana built few rods Of highway
fence alongside of it, where the brush
and we"as used to grow: and the
SCISSORS ~,-sed the valuation five hun
drcd o'.-'-rs, and that added about
twelve dollars TO my tax, besides the IN
crease O. highway and school taxes, and
al that On account Of clearing up less
than an ;"re OF land"
''Wel.. vnclc. it made your farm look
ever 50 much better. That brush patch
vas alw:. : IA eye sore to ne. At least
Yes Frank. II did look bad enough
right thc-c beside the highway, and II
admit t.at i made - lcas; Eve hundred
dollars difference in the appearance OF
the far ~. but then I could not afford
TO make r1anv such Improvements and
lie complied TO pay the increased tax
on them
''Eut uncle, Why are the taxes so high
lcr52 j seems 10 me as If they were
oltra~-ovs-
C. You see the town IS bonded for
S1=3.o52 to aid in building the Midland
RAILROAD. and we a~c paying the interest
on tnc bonds now, and shall have to be
rin payment Of the principal in two or
three yaars- The bonds were made pay
allie II twenty years and we have been
paying tie interest ever since"
well, Uncle Ben. would like to talk
over this bonding business some Other
time; but now we viii talk about
this tax on Improvements. Now, uncle,
you have about one hundred and fifty
acres OF land here, How much were
your taxes last year?'
Let nc see; there was S140 for town.
county and State tax: then there was
S1I school tax. and l worked out SO
highway tax, making in all about S17o-
We'll. uncle. that is about S1.13 per
acre for your whole farm Now, how
much does Smith pay on that fifteen
acre swamp pasture of his down there
adjoining your feld?"
oh. Le doesn't pay much on that.
Why. lis school tax on that was only d
few cents when was collector last year.
and l as. Cd him how much he paid in all
on it. and he said about three dollars"
but il Is good land # 1t was brought
into cult vation. is 1t not, uncle|'
Yes OF course II is; and ! tell you
Smith makes d pretty good thing off of
il nov. You see he pastures his young
stock there. and ii is good pasture, too,
as tho aratterinC bushes on it don't in
lure il mach for that purpose, and it is
Just wet enough TO raise an abundance
of green grass the summer through.
WHY, he has nine or ten head of cattle
In there. and then its increasing in
value every wear Is the land is cleared
up ard Improved around it ! suppose
when / cleared up that acre adjoining !
that it aided as much or more IN pro-
portion To the value OF that field as il
did to tho value of my farm
but Uncle, did these assessors add
90 his valuation on that account
Oh n: Of course not; he had no.
made any improvements on It.
oh, see. They don't tax the value
OF the land. it is only the Improvements
that are taxed"
We'll. / guess it amounts to about
that. after all ."
But Uncle, don't you think it would
he nearer 1 fair thing if the land were
taxed according to its value. without re-
gard TO the Improvements. so that Smith /
would have to pay as much on those |
fifteen acres as you pay on fifteen acres /
of your l.rnd?"
'.Ne.l. | don't know but it would ! !.
never thought much about that before. /
but I guess, come to think of it. Smith /!
would he l1EeIy TO cut the DuSneS OF (
and i'm prove it in that case, for be don't
get quite as much value of it now as !
do for the same number Of acres"
but, Uncle. if you don't have to pay
any tax on improvements your tax would |
he no more to the acre than his is now,
would it? And then you could build a
new barn
.'Oh. Yes. of course it would, for there
is lust about so much to be raised But
taking the tax off of improvements /
would serve to eQuallze 1t, and
would consequently raise Smiths !!
tax per acre to meet the fall in my
own. ] shouldn't have nearly so much +
to paw ss now. and / guess should build
4 new barn mighty quick, and make .
great many other improvements; and
smith would be mighty likely to clear .
ND and drain his lot so as to get as /
much rs possible from the use of it. And
in that wav it would make times lively
around here, and make plenty OF work
for every man that wanted work
but, uncle. you are Henry George .
man. arc you not?"
We'll. well, Frank! You must take .
me for TOOL If you think / want to d. .
vide u7 nv land with every lazy scala .
4 LIZ