Feliciana sentinel. [volume] (St. Francisville, La.) 1877-1892, 1891-10-31
lSLNGLE TAX DEPARTMENT.
WHAT THE SINGLE TAX WOULD
90.

w. j. NJ. writing to the San ANTONIO
Daily Express, says:
For the information OF Aye Bee and
other opponents of the single tax will
answer my question:: "Why is it that
the more you tax houses. hats, sugar or
any other product of mans labor, which
all comes from land, the less people
have of these things to use, while the
more you tax land values the more land
there is available for use?"
Aye, Bee seems to question the cor
of this proposition, hence it is
to prove its truth.
The effect of taxation on the products
of labor is to increase their cost to the
ton If we. impose tax on houses the
users of houses must finally pay it and
the production of houses will cease I'M
til rent becomes high enough to pay
regular profit and the tax besides At
one time in France tax was levied on
every window. 1t was claimed that
this tax could not be evaded and would
fall most heavily on the rich and tend
to allay the angry murmurs of n discon-
tented populace already grooming un-
der multiplicity of taxes. The effect
of this tax like all other taxes on the
products of labor, restricted tho pro-
duction and use of the thing taxed
1t even did more. In order to
evade the tax, thousands OF house
owners walled up their windows, which
remain closed to-day--a monument to the
past folly of French legislation If we
levy tax on hats, the manufacturer
will charge it in a higher price to the
jobber, the jobber to the retailer, and
the retailer to the user, who will pay
not only the original cost plus. the tax
but a profit on every exchange that has
been made. Is it not plain that taxes
of this nature do not remain where
they are first placed but are shifted to
the consumer; and SO is it true, that all
taxes levied on the products of labor
tend to restrict production, consequent
ly the more yon tax these things the
less there is for people to use. Tax
manufactures and you check manu-
featuring, tax improvements and you
lessen Improvement, tax commerce and
you prevent exchange, tax capital and
you drive it away, but the whole value
of land may be taken in taxation and
the only effect will be to stimulate in
dustry free labor, open new opportuni-
ties for capital and increase the produc-
ton of wealth and prevent its concen-
tration.
1t is beyond a question that taxes in
crease the cost of the product of la Dor,
consequently restrict their production,
and it remains to he seen what is land
value and the effect of its taxation. In
the first place, what is land? Aye Bee
seems certainly mixed, and, in an eff
fort to define it says that land is
measured by the acre and land value
by dollars. This is a misconception.
The term land includes not merely the
surface of the earth, but the whole ma
terial world outside of man himself,
and it is only by having access to land
from which his very body is drawn that
he can use the forces and materials of
nature. Land embraces, in short all
natural materials, forces, and oppor-
tunities. You can not measure oppor-
tunities by the acre, neither can you
in like manner measure the forces of
nature. This. then, is the meaning of
land. What is it that gives it value?
Something outside of and distinct from
labor
Imagine the first settler camping OF
the site of the present town of Llano
The soil, locality and resources of the
country suiting him, he determines to
make that his home. Nature in her
most generous mood has stored untold
wealth at his door. inviting him to APP
ply his labor to the land or the natur-
al opportunities which lay at his feet.
BY toll and labor he erected his hum
BILE home and planted crop to supply
him with food for the coming year.
Has his labor increased the value of
the land? No! for soon another pioneer
moves in and locates near the first.
There is no land value yet, but soon
another and another comes, till set
tlement is clustered around the first
pioneer. and the nucleus of city is
started and there is a competition
among the settlers to obtain some more
favorably situated piece of land, aud
then begins to grow with the needs of
community. land value, which IS
created by the presence of population
and the demands of labor for the raw
materials of nature.
The land owner anticipating the
needs of labor, monopolizes the natural
opportunities, and then has the power
Co say to labor, before you can use land
which a few years past was free to all,
you must pay me for my permission,
and as population increases, bringing
with it new markets and means of ex-
change, the demand for land increases
and the land owner stands at the mouth
of the mine. at the door of the work.
shop claiming his pound of flesh, or he
may say and does say to labor and cap
ital: This You must not touch 1t is
true / do not want to use the wealth
stored in this land waiting the magic
touch of labor, neither will l permit
you To do so. He looks ahead few
years and sees a busy, toiling popula-
ton crowding around his vacant land
and knows that this means enormous
in value. The effect of taking this val
ne in the shape of taxation would he
virtually saying to labor and capital:
The earth and its fullness thereof
is yours" Delve and dig, build
and plan, wrest from pature her most