St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-04-21
SHUTTERS OBJECTIONS.
Why He Cannot swallow the Sin.
gle Tax Theory.


Rev. NJ. D. Shutter read another paper
before the single tax league last night.
As on his former appearance there. the
room was crowded. Nobody was dis
appointed. Mr. Shutters criticisms of
the single tax were as poignant as be-
fore. Last night he explained his OBJ
JectIOnS to Henry Georges system.
AT the outset. Mr.. Shutter set forth as
his belief that the sole reason for taxa
zion Is not support Of the government.
Man pays tax for the public
gOOu, LOO. Single tax theorist
hold that mans ability should not be
taxed. Mr.. Shutter declares that that
IS Just what should be taxed. and the
greater the ability the greater the tax.
II special benefits are to be taxed, the
single tax doctrine. why not tax special
abilities? His opinion of the argument
that the state has no right to take any
any product of labor was illustrated
thus: If labor makes a coat it does not
follow that labor is entitled to the coat.
And again: If it is unjust to tax one
man labor. why Is it not unjust to tax
the labor of LOCO men. who. bv gather
ing together and building a town. in
crease the value OF the property?
lie objected TO the adoption of the
single tax because he objected to the
adoption OF new system until it
should have been proved beyond a
doubt that the new system is better. \
system may be all right, yet Ineffective:
the men who attend to its workings may
be at fault. \ system ought NOT to he
abolished because it has been abused,
Single tax people say YOU can't find ont
Just what personal property a man
holds. 4 system that would do It would
be lnQulsitOrial. Them said Mr.
Shutter make it inQuisitorial and
show up its faults" SINGLE tavrrs
complain that personal property is hid
den from the assessor. The value of
land IS frequently hidden. too. Mr..
Shutter quoted to prove that in New
ork city the land owned by Tammanv
leaders IS favored by the assessor. Put
an me burdens of taxation upon one
Grass the wealthy land owners. and. he
thought lhey would find some means to
ESCAPE taxation as do the leaders of
Iammany now. When everything is
taxed the errors made in the tavation of
one sort OF property are balanced Inv the
tax on other property. Put all the tax
upon one Kind Of propertv and every
fault every error. every flaw in the
system. Is immediately exaggerated
Mr.. ohulter made frequent quotations
from the magazine controversy between
Henry George and Edward Atkinson.
! Atkinson once SAID that if the single tax
can be shifted from one TO another
| it is no better than any other
| tax: if 1t cannot he shifted
! ii violates the principle of Justice which
| should underiie all taxation. II is un-
! fair to throw the whole burden of taxa
| ton upon a few. But the single fax
/ i
| taxpayers by throwing open to the poor
man large tracts of land now held for
speculative purposes. Yes. but where
| will the poor man get the money 10 buy
| that land? Nor did Mr.. Shutter be-
| ieve that the removal of the tax from
! the manufacturer plant would multi
| ply industries. furnishing more employ
ment for men. Manufacturers combine
now to balance the supply and the de-
! mand of their products. The nature of
! the manufacturer Will not change
/ much.
/ The matter of public franchises. sne-
! cial privileges. was touched UDOp. The
! single tax man departs from his iron
! clad. c0pper-bOttOmed theory long
/ enough to saw that after Il certain point
! is reached the enterprises for which
/ these franchises have been granted
! should be conducted by the state. Now,
| there are two ways for the state to re-
! acquire title to what it has given away
-cOnfiscation and purchase. The first
method is unjust. The second would
id greatly to the burden of taxation
In conclusion, Mr.. Shutter held it
wrong TO tax the profit out of anything
unless that anything was productive of
| harm to the state. Land does no harm
to the state. Then why tax the profit
out of it. He called attention to c. J.
Bueli's letter to the New York Stand
ard. in which Buell. said that he had
spent an entire evening in attempting to
demonstrate to Shutter the difference
between the COW and the milk-between
the land and what comes from the land.
! the unParned increment.
Il think l see that difference very
clearly" said Mr.. Shutter. But if l
owned COW and Mr.. Buell. took all the
milk from her. | would think that he
! might as well have the COW. The single
tax theory means confscation of land.
They take the profit from the land.
Why not the land too?''