Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1891-12-31
SINGLE TAX DEPARTMENT.
INCIDENCE OF THE SINGLE TAX.
HryRY GEORGE.

II fzeF - : as y
| HENRY GEORGE.
An objection to the single tax, IA
| miliar to all who have followed the
| discussion. lis that the owners of land
would commensurstely increase the
/ price of land and OF its products. This
| objection, where il is honest. comes
| from q careless assumption From the
| fact that most of the taxes levied un-
| der the present system add to the cost
/ of production and increase prices. and
| are thus shifted by first payers to tho
| shoulders of ultimate consumers. it Is
| assumed without inquiry as to the rea-
| son of this that it is true of all taxes
| The earlier files of the Standard show
| a constant recurrence of this objection
| But thanks to the thorough explana-
| tions that have from time to time been
| made, and to the diffusion of economic
knowledge which our agitation has
| produced, it is now seldom met with
| where there has been any single tax
| discussion.
But in another form the same old fall
lacy occasionally crops out even
among single tax men For instance,
have letter from a gentleman in
believer in and teacher of your doc
trines-" And then he goes on to ex-
press surprise that in my letter to the
| pope 1 should say anything to imply
that taxes on land values would not be
| shifted through the medium of prices
| upon all consumers of goods, with
| which admission he thinks ''our posi-
ton would be stronger and nearer the
truth
A still more striking instance of the
same confusion is given by tbs Detroit
Evening News. journal that has Been
active in propagating the single tax
| idea. In an editorial article entitled
1.-THE Question of Taxation" in its issue
of November IS, in which it urges the
adoption of the single tax, occurs the
| following:
''If all taxes We're placed on land
only, every pound of pork. every bushel
of wheat, every horse and COW. every
form of personal property would be
| taxed. The user of the land would
| simply add the tax to all these things,
and every person who used them would
pay his just proportion"
Whereupon a correspondent writes to
the News asking whether this con-
struction of theNews is in harmony with
the single tax as outlined by Henry
George"
Printing this inquiry. the News re-
plies:
Perfectly: otherwise the single tax
scheme would be of little value,
indeed, less than no value at all.
Unless the tiller of the soil, is COM
PEELED to pay directly the whole cost of
government, could add the taxes to the
prices of the things he produces. he
could not till the soil with any profit to
himself and agriculture, upon which
the human race depends for existence,
would be ruined"
Here is an instance of the single tax
being advocated on ground that is not
merely untenable in itself, but that ut
terly denies fundamental principle OF
the single tax theory. Since all have
ever written on the subject Of taxation
is based on the proposition that a tax
on land values can not fall on produc
ton and increase prices, and since there
is no error that have been at SO much
pains to correct as that the tax we pro-
pose would fall on land users and
through them on consumers, it is hardly
necessary for me to deny that my views
are correctly represented by the News.
But it may be worth while to point out
the error into which at least more than
one of the protested advocates of the
single tax have fallen. Nothing is to
be gained by having the single tax ad
vocated for wrong reasons. Men
bought over by erroneous arguments
can never be relied on in a cause that
must rest on truth. The unsound sup
porter is, in fact, more dangerous than
an opponent
| Unless he sees that taxes on land
values of economic rent which is what
we mean by the single tax, must be
borne by the owners of the valuable
| land from which it is collected. and
| that it can not fall on users of land as
users, and can not add to the cost of
| production or increase prices, no one
| can possibly appreciate either the
| moral side of our argument or the full
| weight of its fiscal side. To him the
declaration on which dwelt in my re-
cent letter to the pope that what we
propose 1--WE propose, not as a cunning
device of human ingenuity but as
conforming of human regulations to
the will of God" and that the single
tax sis the way intended by God for
raising public revenues" is wild as
sumption. and the reform to which we
look for the emancipation of labor be-
comes nothing more than a mere eco
nomical way of collecting taxes on
labor. That this is so is shown by the
editor of the News, who, in answering
his correspondent. goes on 10 say:
1T the single taxi is defensible
merely as the most economical and
equitable means of spreading among
all the people the expenses of govern
ment. It would doubtless remedy
many evils of our present extravagant
system. but it would not bring on the
millennium Men would still be men,
and like all other animals. they would
find that nature is hard mistress, and
that life can only be maintained on
this earth by a strenuous struggle.
Under any system that can be devised
life will be a battle, and many will go
down that others may live
The assumption that single tax would
be a tax on use and add to prices nee
essarily leads to this small view of its
results 1t is only when the essential
difference between tax on land values
and tax on labor products is seen,
that it can be seen that nature. instead
of being a hard mistress to some, is in
deed a bounteous mother to all, and
that so far from there being any nat
ural necessity for that bitter struggle
for life in which some men must tread
others under foot, there is in reality