The Louisiana Democrat., 1891-08-05

their while to take the trONOlc neccS.
sary to secure legal exemption; (c)
those who are unfamiliar with business
and do not know the methods used for
escaping taxation; (d) property in tho
hands of trustees who have no personal
interest in saving the tax. i. e., property
belonging to orphans and charitable in-
stitutions.
2s. The imposition of taxes on tho
improvements of land, while personal
property escapes taxation partly (as it
does) or wholly (as it should), is di-
rect Encouragement to the improve.
ment of land.
80. A succession tax would be fuctu.
ating in amount, and not perfectly FREQ
from evasion. 1t has no pretense to bo
anything but a malscshift, except in the
minds of those who hold that the right
of property terminates at death.
{ 80. The value of good local govern
ment appears as an increase of land
value, and is paid for by the tenant to
the landlord. Therefore the landlord
should pay the expense Of furnishing it
to the tenant.
81. In the same way the existence Of
local taxes, other than the tax on land,
decreases the land value of the place,
and their abolition would increase it,
thus compensating the landlords for
their loss by tins change.
81. With regard to the loss which
would be caused to landowners by tho
establishment of the single tax limited:
(a) 1t would be no loss, but a gain to
those whose proportional interests as
owners of taxed personal property and
improvements exceeded their proper.
tional interest as landowners, including
working farmers in general (as shown
by statistics), and probably numerical
majority of all landowners.
(b) Of those who did lose, the major.
ity would have interests in other taxed
property SO nearly equal to their inter.
est in land as to make the loss slight
(c) The general increase in the pros.
perity of the community would cause
a rise in land values further compen.
sating land owners. This is especially
true as to the single tax for local pur
poses. See Nos. 3O-3l.
(d) In all cases the loss to the land
owner would be measured, not by the
whole increase of his land tax, but by
this increase minus the decrease of his
other taxes. This amount would be SO
small compared with the whole ranga
of taxation affected by the change that
any difficulties arising from it are prop.
crly mere matters of detail. Compen.
sation could be given for it without lay
inga very great burden on the publis
treasury; though it is not probable that
this would be done.
(e) In the above considerations no
reference is made to the destruction Of
the purely speculative element in land
yatles, about which it is not probable
that any reliable estimate could bs
made. But il is not supposed that any
one will make the abolition of this
serious objection.
f) Landowners would participate in
the increase of general prosperity equal
ly with others.
50. The proposition to compensate
landlords for the loss caused by the sin.
gle tax would be open to the following
practical objections: (a) 1t would be
the object of much speculation and
fraud; (dl since it is not customary TO
give compensation to those who lose by
any change in tax laws, the unusual
proposition in this case would cause
confusion and possible obstruction to
the reform; (c) the increased public ex-
pensc of paying the compensation could
not be met by an increase in the land
tax, since this would at once call for
further compensation; it must then be
met by maintaining some one of our
other taxes, all of which (see Nos. 10,
81, ~ are practically attended with
more or less injustice
81. Government has no right to con-
tilue taking from individuals the prod.
uct of their labor, when it can obtain its
revenue by taking once for all that
which is the product of no individuals
labor, and periodically collecting the
rental value of this.
IS. The single tax, when once perma.
nently in operation, would be in effect
the abolition of all taxation, which
would be the most certain cure for all
the evils of taxation.
36. When the difficulties attending its
first establishment were past, and IL
had become the settled policy OF the
couDtry, the single tax unlimited wou'd
be tax system of absolutc theoretical
perfection, in the practical carrying out
of which there would be involved no
evils but such as necessarily arise from
the imperfect human nature of assessors
and collectors. Stephen 7. Byington.