The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1891-07-29
A Single Tax Congressman.

is no more to ge&
A Single Tax Congressman.
Hon. John Dewitt Warner, congress-
man.elcct from New York city, in an
article for the Statesman on "How will
the Single Tax Affect the Farm"
said:
at is proposed to assess all lands at
their unimproved value, and not other
wise. amounts to this: that all
improved lands are to be relieved some
what of present taxation, and all unim-
proved lands are to be somewhat more
heavily taxed; that all more improved
lands are to be less taxed in COMPARE
son with all less improved lands-gen-
orally speaking that all extensive es-
tates, the worth of whose broad acres,
irrespective of their improvements, Is
greater in comparison with such inn
provements, will pay more, and small
farms, greater part of whose worth is
made up of buildings and improvements
will pay less. Which are the more
numerous? Which would the single
tax tend to make more and more numei.
Gus? Which is it good policy for the
government most to encourage? To
ask these questions is to answer them.
and to demonstrate that in its compara-
tive incidence upon improved and tln-
improved rural property respectively,
the single tax is at once more just and
polite than our present system.
"But any general system OF taxation
involves questions of general as well as
local proportion. What share of taxes
would rural communities, as n whole,
pay under the single tax, as compared
with what they now pay. or as COM
pared with that paid by urban commu-
mites? Let us see. 1t will be admitted
that 'unearned increment
in the value of land, due not to inn
provcment of the land itself, but to inn
provcment of lands about it-as in the
case of city lots, is a more important
factor in the city than in the country.
1t will be admitted that in state
where there are no cities or villages,
| no cause for unearned increment in
special localities it will be perfectly
| fair to assess all lands at their present
value for use equally except as present
productiveness or availability OF each
tract may differ. Now as the state, as
whole, increases in productiveness
and wealth it's lands become more and
more valuable for use in two general
ways-frst by actual Improvement OF
the land itself and the buildings placed
thereon; second by increased available.
ity for use of certain parcels in or near
villages and cities-which will aggre-
gate themselves about certain natural
or artificial vantage points. This in.
crease in availability, this so-called
'unearned increment" is SO intensified
in cities, and so minimized in strictly
rural districts that it may be considered
a factor of land values in cities and viii
lagos alone; and when it is consid.
cred that the worth of a city lot-unlike
even half cultivated lands scarcely
affected by whether it is fenced or
ditched, cultivated or not; and how
enormously out of all proportion to the
value of farm land is the value OF city
land as such, without reference to any
improvements whatever on the particu-
lar parcel, it will be seen how hard it is
even to imagine village, much less a
city, where the value of land. without
reference to the improvements, does not
bear greater proportion to the value
of all real estate there, including inn
provemeuts, than does the land in any
rural district, considered as wild or I'M.
improved land. bear to the actual value
of the real estate of such rural district,
including all buildings, fences, bitches
and improvements of every kind that
have made it more fertile and more val.
liable And it is impossible to imagine
state, including growing cities, where
the comparison in question will not be
more conclusive in the same direction
as the proportion of urban to rural de.
velopment increases.
ITO sum up: Not merely is the single
tax, as compared with our present sys-
tenn of taxation, the more just and po-
litic as between the several members OF
a rural community; but, if put into
operation, it would decrease the proper
ton of taxes which the farming com
munity would have to pay as compared
with our cities; and would increase,
faster than would our present system.
the proportion of taxes which the cities
would have to pay"