Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1891-05-15
SINGLE TAX DEPARTMENT.
THE SINGLE TAX AND THE
FARMER.

r. G. Brown. of Memphis, has an adj
,ni,nble article on How the Single Tax
Would Affect the Farmer in Il recent
number of the st. Louis Journal of Az
riculture. Explaining the difference
between land and land values and the
value of improvements, Mr.. Brown
shows how taxing land value alone
dens that now Cypress him. 10 the
supposed question OF the farmer as to
whether the single tax would not de-
stroy the value of his farm, Mr.. Brown
saws it would destroy the land value
but would not affect the improvement
value nor the usefulness of the farm.
He takes the following case to illus
trate this point:
John Smith owns Il farm of 60 acres.
which, under the present system of tax
alton he can sell for $40 per acre. Adj
joining this farm is plot of woodland
equally fertile as Smiths farm, owned
by Old Money-bags, the Spectator, who
paid S1.5O for it some 20 years ago, and
who now holds it for SIS an acre. owing
to the fact that Smith, Jones and Rob
inson have cleared the land around his
woods. made roads, built school
house. put up church, and in short,
'smade the wilderness blossom like the
rose Is it not as clear as two and two
make four, that the difference in value
between Smiths 60 acre farm and Old
Money bags 60 acre woodland is the
value of Smiths improvements? Is it
not evident that 5000 of Smiths farm is
land value. and Sl,5OD is improvement
value?
Where Smith lives money is worth 6
per cent, and if the tax rate there We're
6 per cent. every year, the land valued
his farm would be wiped out. since no
one would give him any thing for Il
5000 land-value upon which the pur-
chaser would have to paw S54 taxes
every year Smiths farm would, there
fore. sell for only $1,000. But is he
hurt by this? Not at all! Old Money
bags sixty acres of woodland would be
taxed $54 every year, and as it would be
bringing in nothing, the owner would
let it be sold for taxes. and Smith could
get it for nominal sum and on under
taking to pay the taxes in the future.
Then he could spend his $1,000 in i'm
proving it and would be in exactly the
same condition as he was before he sold
his old farm.
He shows how personal property
tax bears heavier on the farmers than
on any other class of the community.
He says:
In my county SHELBY county, Tenn. y,
although we have $1,000 worth of per-
sonalty exempt by law, which entirely
covers the amount of personal property
owned by the average small farmer, the
personally in the country amounts to
~ per cent of the total valuation, while
in the city, Memphis. which is the dis
tributing point for territory of a one
hundred mile radius, the personally is
only 16 per cent. of the valuation.
Mr.. Brown estimates that a general
farmer has on the average about 1,00(
of personally and $1,000 Of improve
ments for 5000 Of land value. He then
of land value, or S54 a year, would be
far less than the taxes he now pays
which, including the enhanced pieces o.
goods occasioned by the tariff, would
be at the lowest possible extent at leas'
$40 year. He points out how the cit
les, New York for instance. where lant
has sold for $500 square foot, or $13.
900, 900 an acre, would pay the bulk o
taxation under the single tax The ben
eft of exempting improvements in slim
ulating industry, and the evil of indi
rect taxation, taxes on goods, on produc
ton, on houses, tariff duties, which in
crease prices, stop consumption and les
sen the demand for the farmers pro
ducts, are clearly shown. Mr.. Brow
asks the readers of the Agriculturist t.
look into this question, and as secretar,
of the Memphis single tax association
he offers to supply literature to anyon
who asks for it.