The Dalles daily chronicle. [volume] (The Dalles, Or.) 1890-1948, 1891-05-15
THE SINGLE rAY.
An Advocate Tells How it VIII BENEFIT
~ ~ the Farmer.


the Oreg0nianl--Your issue of May z
contains an extract from The Dalles
CHRONICLE headed ssA Question for
Single Tax Men," which several individ-
uala have shown to me as an unanswer-
able challenge of the merits claimed for
the single tax. If all the property in
Wasco county is assessed at 81, 2,500, 900
and $62 800 is collected.by an assessment
os both real and personal property, the
same amount can be collected through
single tax on land. To illustrate: The
assessor might say to the editor of the
CHRONICLE: 81 want a poll tax of 81
from you 1 want $40 from your suit. of
clothes worth $50 and $40 from your
purse, worth $780," In this instance
assessed on and collected from three diff
ferent objects. A single tax of $31 could
be collected as poll tax, or single tax
of $31 could be collected from the suit of
clothes or single tax of $31 could be col
lected from the purse. If the editor can
pay $31 tax, it would be more economi-
cal for him to have single assessment
and single collection instead of a dual
or triple, for the reason that there would
be less bookkeeping and less clerk hire,
for all of which the taxpayer is bound
to pay. So, If a man own a lot on which
is house filed with furniture, his taxes
can be paid in one lump by an assess
ment on his lot and he will save time
and money in having but a single assess
ment and s'Single Tax
No single-tax advocate has claimed
that the tax would be reduced on "farm-
ers and land-holders." They do claim
that the farmer wonld pay less taxes,
but he is not the principal land-holder
They claim that the taxes on valuable
town and city land would be increased,
and so would taxes on valuable timber,
mineral and water-power land. But,
mark you, the farmer is different kind
of land-holder. The city land-holder,
under our present system, would be
benefited by a. certain kind of single
tax, which required him to pay all his
taxes-state, county, city and school-at
one time, at one place, and in one sum.
The reasoning of the Chronicle, con-
corning the increase from 81 so to 81 Is
on each 800 worth of land is based upon
a misrepresentation of the single tax
argument. There is land, dare say, in
The Dalles, that is, town property, worth
$1,000 per acre, that is assessed at 5000
an acre, while farm land short dis
tance away from The Dalles, worth $50
an acre, is assessed at $25. In the
former case the assessment is 20 per
cent. of real value, in the latter so per
cent. The trouble is that the assess
ments are disproportiouate to values,
land taxed according to its value, i. e. a
land-value tax. In this way the assess
ment in the town will be raised, and in
the country lowered, and thus the
farmer, under the single tax, will paw
less taxes than now, because the assess
ments will be equalized. The million
aire must pay. taxes, even if money is
exempted from taxation. If twenty
mlllionaires were to move into The
Dalles it would certainly increase the
value of land in and about The Dalles
The increase is caused by the presence of
the millionaire. Now, if the landis taxed
according toits value, and the value is
increased by the millionaire, the million
aire e,will be taxed, though you don't col
lect i cent from money as money.
Horses brought to The Dalles will IN
crease the value of land because horses
consume oats and require attention,
which employ labor, and labor adds to
population, and population increases the
value OF land. No money, no horses, no
horses no laborer and oats, no oats, no
farmer-and thus we go on. The very
TACT that Wasco county has 81 SOC, 900 of
assessable real property is because a GER
tain number OF men, horses, dollars, ETC.,
are congregated in the county. Let
these men, horses, dollars, ETC., be taken
away from the county and the 81, 500, 900
of realty will dwindle down to nothing.
As matter of facl the land owner should
be willing to pay all the tax, because a
tax, like fine, keeps away manufactor-
les, improvements, etc., and the pres
ence OF these always increases the value
OF land-a conclusion arrived at by one
OF the largest land owners of Pennsyl-
vania, who advocates the single tax for
the reason that under it his land would |
be more valuable. s..a
No slngle-tax advocate will attempt to
raise $62, 800 from a 25-mil lew on
81 900, 900 worth of real estate, but he
probably will raise the real estate assess
ment above 81, SOC, 90 and get the $62, 500 |
on even lower assessment. But this |
would thin out some of the nossbacks
who own valuable property and keep it |
unimproved because of the low assess
ment placed upon it. The ehouse-builder,
tn manufacturer, the merchant, the |
business man and laborer all contribute |
to enrich the same rich mossback and |
pay his taxes too. The measure of the |
mossback's wealth, and of the land
speculator's, too, is merely the measure |
of taxes they are able to shoulder, under |
a bad system, upon the real wealth pro-
ducer, who builds towns and cities, and |
makes the country what it is, bad as |
that may be-. j. p. KOHLER.
y The following statement from Mr.. w. |
b. Denny, a well known dairyman of |
New Lexington, Ohio, will be of interest
to persons troubled with Rheumatism |
He says. 81 have used sChamberlain;s |
Pain Balm for nearly two. years, four
bottles in all, and there is nothing have |
ever used that gave me as much relief |
for rheumatism. We always keepla bot !
tie of it in the house." For sale by
Snipes & Kinersly. -seaf-sis