The Louisiana Democrat., 1891-10-28
SINGLE TAX DEPARTMENT.
WHAT THE SINGLE TAX WOULD
90.

WHAT THE SINGLE TAX WOULD
w. j. NJ. writing to the San Antonio
Daily Express, says:
For the information of Aye Bee and
other opponents of the single tax will
answer my question: "Why is it that
the more you tax houses, hats, sugar or
any other product of mans labor, which
| all comes from land, the less people
have of these things to use, while the
more you tax land values the more land
there is available for use?'
Aye Bee seems to question the cor
rectness of this proposition, hence it is
necessary to prove its truth.
The effect of taxation on the products
of labor is to increase their cost to the
consumer, thereby restricting consump-
tion. five impose tax on houses the
users OF houses must finally pay it and
the production Of houses will cease un.
til rent becomes high enough to pay a
regular profit and the tax besides. At
one time in France a tax was levied on
every window 1t was claimed that
this tax could not be evaded and would
fall most heavily on the rich and tend
to allay the angry murmurs of discon-
tented populace already groaning un-
der multiplicity of taxes. The effect
of this tax like all other taxes on the
products of labor, restricted the pro-
duction and use of the thing taxed.
1t even did more. In order to
evadc the tax. thousands of house
owners walled up their windows, which
remain closed to-day--a monument to the
past folly of French legislation. If we
levy e tax on hats, the manufacturer
will charge it in a higher price to the
jobbcr, the jobber to the retailer, and
the retailer to the user, who will pay
not only the original cost plus the tax
but profit on every exchange that has
been made. Is it not plain that taxes
of this nature do not remain where
they are first placed but are shifted to
the consumer; and so is it true, that all
taxes levied on the products Of labor
tend to restrict production, consequent
ly the more YOU tax these things the
less there is for people to use. Tax
manufactures and you check manu-
featuring, tax Improvements and you
lessen Improvement, tax commerce and
you prevent exchange, tax capital and
You drive it away, but the whole value
of land may be taken In taxation and
the only effect will be to stimulate in
dustry. free labor, open new opportuni-
ties for capital and increase the produc-
tion of wealth and prevent its concen-
tration.
1t is beyond a question that taxes in
crease the cost of the product OF labor,
consequently restrict their production.
and it remains to lie seen what is land
value and the effect Of its taxation. In
the first place, what is land? Aye Bee
seems certainly mixed, and, in an eff
fort to define it says that land is
measured by the acre and land value
by dollars. This is misconception.
The term land includes not merely the
surface of the earth, but the whole ma
ter'al word outside Of man himself,
and it is only by having access to land
from which his very body is drawn that
he can use the forces and materials OF
nature. Land embraces in short, all
natural ma erials, forces, and oppor-
tunities. You can not measure oppor-
tunities by the acre, neither can you
in like manner measure the forces OF
nature. This then, is the meaning oi
land. What is it that gives it value?
Something outside of and distinct from
labor
Imagine the first settler camping on
the site of the present town Of Llano.
The soil. locality and resources OF the
country suiting him, he determines to
make that his home. Nature in her
most generous mood has stored untold
wealth at his door, inviting him to up.
ply his labor to the land or the natur.
al opportunities which lay at his feet
BY toll and labor he erected his hum.
BILE home and planted crop to supply
him with. food for the coming year.
Has his labor increased the value oi
the land? No! for soon another pioneer
moves in and locates near the first
There is no land value yet, but soon
another and another comes, till set
tlement is clustered around the first
pioneer, and the nucleus of city il
started and there is competition
among the settlers to obtain some more
favorably situated piece Of land, and
then begins to grow with the needs Of
community, land value, which is
created by the presence of population
and the demands of labor for the raw
materials Of nature.
The land owner anticipating the
needs Of labor, monopolizes the natural
opportunities, and then has the powe,
to say to labor, before you can use land
which few years past was free to all
you must pay me for my permission
and as population increases, bringing
with it new markets and means of ex
change, the demand for land increase.
J and the land owner stands at the mouth
of the mine, at the door Of the work
shop claiming his pound of flesh, or HI
may say and does say to la or and cap
} ital: This you must not touch 1t
true I do not want to use the wealth
J stored in this land waiting the magic
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