The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1891-03-07
SINGLE TAX DEPARTMENT.
TAKING LAND VALUES.
Henry George in N. Y. Standard
fcoNTINuED FROM LAST ISSUE

All taxes which increase prices are
necessarily taxes in favor of monopoly.
since the more capital it requires to GO
into any business, or to make any i'm.
provement, the smaller the number Of
those who can do So And, besides this
general characteristic of the taxes we
would abolish, many Of these taxes are
specially designed to foster monopolies.
1t is, moreover, evident that when a
large part of the produce of labor and
capital of the community is taken in
rent by those who do nothing to aid in
production flor land owners as land
owners in no wise aid production), there
Is not merely created an unnecessary
and unnatural inequality in the distri-
button of wealth. but this primary in
| equality gives rise to tendency to fur
Their inequality. Unto him that hath
shall be given. and from him that hath
not shall be taken away" is the express
sion OF a universal law. To take from
one and give to another is. both by de-
creasing the relative power OF tho one
and increasing the relative power Of the
other, to put them upon unequal foot
ings in treating future divisions. II we
trace to their cause the major
ity of great fortunes, we shall
find it in monopolies of some
kind-the primary and most inn
portant OF all being the monopoly Of the
land. 1t is not because capital gets an
undue proportion of the wealth that it
helps to produce Though capital in some
OF its aggregations which involve
monopoly does). that in spite of all the
enormous advances which invention and
improvement and the growth of popula-
ton have made. and still are making, in
productive power, labor gets but such
scant living, and wages tend constantly
to the minimum that will support life.
With the advance Of the arts and the
progress of society, interest-which
measures the return to capital-does not
increase, but tends rather to diminish.
1t is rent which goes up, and up. and up
To divert to common uses this great
fund which, though drawn from the pro-
duction of the whole community, now
goes to but portion Of the community.
would be to turn into promoter Of
equality what is now a promoter of
inequality. To release capital from tax
alton, to lift the burden which now rests
upon improvement and production, to
destroy speculative land values, and
throw open land to those who would use
1t, would open opportunities for labor in
every direction and send wages up. In
all industries laborers would get fairer
proportion than now of the value their
labor creates.
With relation to the factors Of pro-
duction and the primary distribution of
the produce, society is divided for pur-
poses Of economic investigation into
three classes-land owners, capitalists
and laborers. OF these it Is evident
that the change would be to the advan-
tage Of the capitalists and laborers, and
to the disadvantage of the land owners.
But it is only in the abstract that such
distinction can be clearly made in any
country, and especially in such coun-
try as ours We have, 1t is true, . con-
siderable class Of laborers who are
neither capitalists nor land owners; but |
we have few capitalists who are not la |
borers, for in the economic use OF the |
term the managing head Of any great in !
dustrial enterprise is as truly laborer |
as is any workman in his employ; and |
we have probably no land owners who |
are not either lsborers or capitalists,
for, in the strict definition OF the term,
and improvements are capital, /
not land ~. A very great number Of |
our people combine the characters OF |
land owner. capitalist and laborer, and |
there are certainly large majority who
combine at least two of these characters /
Thus while all would profit in the gem
oral social gains, it is only in the char
acter of land owner that against these |
general gains any one could set indi-
vidual loss. Therefore, the proposition
to concentrate taxes ON land values
should, as matter of mere individual
interest, commend itself even to land |
owners whoe', interests as land owners
do not exceet their interests as capital
lists or labortrs, or both.
With reference to the ownership of
land and with regard to actual facts, our
people may be divided into three
who own land which they
10 not Themselves Use, those who own
and which they use, and those who own
no land. Tie latter class may contain
some capitalists, but it is mainly COM
posed OF labsrers- hands, manual
aborers operatives, mechanics, clerks,
professional men, etc, who depend. for
heir living upon the earnings Of their
abor. This Is the class which it is most
important TO consider, not merely for
reasons, but because, since
hey constitute the base OF the social
pyramid, whatever improves or de-
presses their condition. will affect ell
he rest Now, it is manifest that to
AXE taxes ca capital and improvement
md production and exchange would be
'reatly to benefit all of those who live
~ their earnings, whether Of hand or I
read. 1t is manifest also that It would 1
'enefit all who live partly by the earn
nQs of their labor and nartlv NV the I