Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1891-01-29

about as four to one. The total of tn
first ella, S it is proposed to exempt; br
under tn, present system the total {
both cIasse is taxed.
And this is not all. When taxes ar
imnosed sore,, on land values, so niue
land that is now held out of use for spec
ulation will seeka market that the valu
of all land will falh and as 1T falls tn
farmers tax win rece> ae. It's probable
if the speculative vaf> lie OF land wer
eliminated, as it would De under tn
land value tax, that the value of tn
average working farmers improve
ments, stock and produce. cor. 1pared t.
the value of his bare land, WON d be a.
ten to one. In many cases it would bt
as the whole is to nothing.
| Home owners and farmers now beal
| the burden of taxes, and the land value
| tax would emancipate them. When we
consider the special privileges that the
wealthy classes enjoy, their taxes are
exceedingly light compared to those of
the house owner and the farmer, whose
special privileges are meager. The only
special privilege that the average home
owner and working farmer enjoys is
the exclusive right to piece of land,
the value of which relatively to the val
ue of the wealth he produces is trifie;
but there are mine owners city lot
owners, railroad owners, telegraph
owners and currency makers whose
special privileges relatively to the
wealth they produce are in value close
on to a hundred times. Owners of coal
mines, for example, get thirty-fve cents
ten for all coal mined; how much
wealth do they produce? None. Under
the land value tax, which bears only
upon special privileges, they, and such
as they. and not the home owner or the
farmer, would bear the burden of tax
alton; and it is in the interest of bene-
ticiaries of these special privileges that
the farmer is appealed to to defeat the
land value tax.
Thus far of the farmer who owns his
farm and the head of family who
owns his home. But what of the ten
ant farmer and the tenant house holder,
two constantly growing classes? They
must now pay annually to a land
lord all that their land is worth and
an indirect tax on what they con-
sumo, as well as direct taxes. Under
the land value tax they would pay no
more for the land than they do now; in
deed, they would pay less, for land val
ues would fall with the increase of the
market supply of land. They would
pay no more for the improvements than
they do now, but less; for with the in
crease of production and reduction of
land values both parties to an exchange
would get more with less work. And
how TOW hot %1,nxr
consumed, nor any other tax except
what they paid to the landlord in the
form of ground rent.
But the sum total of benefits to the
farmer and the home owner is not yet
reached. The average farmer and the
average home owner are workingmen.
| have considered, so far, only the ben
etits they will enjoy as consumers; their
benefits as producers are yet to be seen.
We have already observed that their in
terests as capital owners and laborers
are greater than their interests as land
owners; therefore a tax that eXempts
their interests as capital owners and
laborers, even though it wholly absorbs
their interests as land owners, must be
beneficial to them. And SO it is. The
wages of their labor will rise with wages
generally.
Stating the proposition in the terms OF
political economy. the land value tux
will raise the margin of production.
and as wages rise with the rise of the
of production wages will rise
with the imposition of the land value
tax. In terms more familiar to the
Kansas editor. the land value tax will
abolish the value of all land not espec-
tally desirable. Any land that is not in
demand for use will bear no rent; and
land that is not more desira BILE, even
though in use, will also be free of rent.
Consequently, occupiers of such land
will have no tax to pay. Now, there is
cause it is held out of use for specula.
ton users of land must take up with
less desirable locations, and as wages
are regulated by the produce of the |
least desirable land in use wages are |
ower now than they will be when the |
more desira bic locations are to be had |
free of rent or purchase price.
By wages is meant, of course, the re-
urn for ones labor, whether paid by |
IN employer as in factories or directly |
out of his produce as in the case OF
armers. Hence, the condition of a
farmer in his capacity of
producer. as well as in that of consum.
II, must improve under the land value
AK, will that of the small home
,wner, what ever be his vocation
louis Z. Post. in the Standard