Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1891-01-16

pay 1t MS larm VIII DO sold for tara
The Spectator from whom he hos
however, only pays 81 year tax ~
adjoining hundred acres of eou,,. "s
valuable land. Has the farmer burt
one by improving his hundred nv
tract? If not, why should he be s AVN
for it? On the contrary, by settlina
one hundred acres of that thousand ,ca
tract he has made the nine bunas
acres more valuable. and when o.t
hard working farmers settle in az
ncighborhood, they, by their labor l
their common energy and enternr;s.
will add yearly to the value of the snao
ulator's holdings. But will thcv ~,
any advantage from this enhanccmeess,.
in the value of his land, which ,ha'
themselves have caused? Will he rjvs
them any portion of this unearned inc,a
ment which they themselves have NV
duced? On the contrary, should one y,
these farmers desire to increase the sin
of his farm, or to settle one of his cbI
dren on adjoining land, he will have -
pay the Spectator for the very enhance
ment in the value of the land which bso
resulted from the application of his own
labor upon his own land.
The first step in carrying out ,bo
George doctrine in Texas is simply ex
empting by law all personal propertr
and improvement on land from taxation
and requiring taxes to be lowed ON
land values alone. Such law would
be direct benefit to every farmer in tho
State.
Here in Harris County, at least six.
seventies of the land is wholly unim.
proved, and probably one-t third of the
lots within the corporate limits of the
city of Houston are vacant. On an aver
age all over the United States about one
half Of the taxable values of acommuni-
ty are in personal property and improve.
ments on land, while the other half is in
the land itself.
In Harris County we must raise saw
$500, 600 year to cover State, county
and municipal taxation. Now, in order
to raise the sum on one-half the taxa
BILE values in the county, as would prob
ably be necessary were we to EXEMPT
personal property and Improvements on
the land from taxation, we should of
course be compelled to double the tax
on land values. This would double the
tax now paid on any tract of vacant
land. 1t would, however, reduce the
taxes on farms and residences from fifty
to five hundred per cent. A hundred
acre farm in Harris County, the assessed
valuation of which is $1,000, pays tax
of $50 year. Now, what is the assessed
valuation of wild land in the neighbor-
hood similar in quality to such tract,
and which is likely enough owned by a
nonresident SPECTATOR? Is it more
than dollar an acre? Is it more than
one-tenth the assessed valuation of the
improved farm? To the owner of such
an improved farm say, if the first STEP
even in carrying out the George doctrine
were adopted, the assessment of the
spectators land would be doubled, but
your farm would be assessed at precisely
the same valuation as his land adjoining
OF equal value with your own, regard
less of the improvements. You would
thus be assessed at 5000 instead of 81, 900,
and your taxes would be So a year in
stead of $40. reduction of taxation in
your case OF five hundred per cent Yet
people say that the farmers will never
be such fools as to adopt the George
theory. Time alone will show.
Henry George teaches that the more
farms that are opened up and improved
the more machinery, buildings and fac
tories are erected, the more coal beds
and mineral deposits are developed, the
more residences are built, the more will
labor be in demand and the better wages
will the laborer get The more wages
the laborers get the more will they have
to spend, the more will they buy and
the better will times be all around.
Why, then, should the man who improves
land, who builds a residence, a store
house, a factory or tenement on land
be fined by tax gatherer on account of
his enterprise and his willingness to do
some thing with his money which gives
employment to labor? If any one is tc
be fined, why should it not be the man
who, instead of putting his money into
productive enterprises, attempts to fore
stall labor by buying up the vacant
lands, the undeveloped coal bed and
mineral deposit, with the purpose of ex-
torting blackmail from labor, a bounty
for the bare privilege of making nature
useful to mankind?
By taxing improvements, buildings,
tenement houses and factories, we dis
courage the investment of capital in
productive enterprises which give en-
ployment to labor. BY taxing land
values alone. by increasing the burden
OF taxation on land values, we do not
lessen the amount of land, but we cheap
en- its price, we make the speculator
who is holding it in idleness a little
more anxious to sell, we make the land
owner little more anxious to improve.
"A tax on land values alone, therefore,
instead OF retarding enterprise. stimu.
lates enterprise.
Now suppose this first step had been
taken when our young farmer went
forth seeking land for his own farm. Ii
1t had cost spectators twice as much in
taxes to hold vacant land around that
town would they have been as eager to
buy it up in the first place? Would thew
not have been little more shv about
investing in it, and hence would not it's
price have been considerably less? and