The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1892-05-16

eminent, IN a rule by autoc-acy and
bureaucracy, while Spencer believes IN
individual effort, or the government winch
governs least.
Georges theories regarding :he owner
ship of land viii never be adopted to any
serious extent. Workingmen who own
their own homes would seriously object to
giving them up to benefit men who don't
own homes and never would if their pos
session depended on their own ezertions.
ANY intelligent work ingman csn see that
under Georges scheme, which i'm
poses all the taxes on the land and
no tax on the building, the IT IL
;onaire's palace would be equally ex-
empt with the mechanics COTTAGE,
which would in effect rob the poor to help
the rich The house that costs million
pays no tax, while the lot on which IL
stands pays no more tax than similar lot
owned by mechanic. Of course this
would result in the contiscation OF all small
properties and the concentration OF all
real estate in the hands of the most
wealthy, for only the large buildings could
pay the land tax. Those able TO build the
most expensive structures would be able
to endure the tax that would mean contls-
cation to poor house and land holder.
Georges proposed change of taxation is
not the extinction of burden, but mere
makeshift change of knapsack on the
shoulders of the soldier of labor, and has
no interest for anybody save the lazy and
unthrfty who dream, drool and lounge
their lives away waiting for that Utopian
hour of millennium when every loafer who
seeks something for nothing will get what
he wants; that is get what he never earned
from the energetic, thrifty, industrious,
honest hands that earned it.
The farmers of New York state thor
oughiy discussed once in convention this
Henry George theory. under which al the
tax would be laid upon the land and no
part on personal property. George was
preceded by the great Democratic free
trader, David A. Wells, who in 1879, when
state commissioner of taxation, proposed
to the governor of New York the aboli-
ton of taxes on personal property and
the imposition of all taxes on the
rental values of the land. George dit
fered from Wells in that he would
make the single tax national, as means
of abolishing custom houses. As plan
for the state only, without change of
method by the national government, the
tax on land only would not satisfy
Georges theories. The New York farmers
and the people generally rejected the
proposition of Wells, which nevertheless
obtained a strong following among the
Knights of Labor.
The assessed real estate in New York
state pays nearly ten times as much as
personal property. The farmers, who con-
troll majority Of the state legislature,
naturally try to recoup themselves by i'm
posing upon the cities and towns large
proportion Of the tax on real estate.
While the farmers thus succeed in paying
less than third of the tax, nevertheless
the farmers would pay still less if the
| enormous amount of personal property,
! which in cities and towns now escapes
taxation entirely, were taxed as it ought
! to be. Under the present situation the
New York farmer legislator seeks to re-
dress the injustice done by the
escape of personal property from
taxation by another injustice, viz:
| throwing an excessive and unfair burden
on the real estate owners of cities and
! towns. Under the circumstances the
farmer. the workingman and the mechanic
will not accept the proposal of Mr.. Wells
and Mr.. George to put all taxes on the
rental value of land. They will persist in
their endeavor to compel personal prop
erty to pay its share of the cost of COVER j.
ment, despite the fact that the practical
difficulties in the way of bringing personal
property to book are very great.
In England the land tax was fixed IN
1892 under the reign of William the Third.
Since that date the land has increased I'M
menseiy in value, but the tax has never
been altered save when it has been remit
ted. The national taxes have been levied
on the people and the local taxes have
been levied not on the property but on the
tenants. The renters have been taxed 70
pay for bettermentS that have prompted
CraspiDg landlords to advance rents. But
10 America the farmer pays in taxes ''the
, unearned increment OF his lands. y
George teaches there is an uneerned in
crement III the value of land due
wholly to the growth of population
and the progress Of society; that
this "unearned increment" belongs to so,
ciety because society created it. This un
earned increment, he argues, il Sufficient
to cover the necessary expenses of gov
eminent. national, state and local, and
also the cost of providing libraries. baths
art galleries, theaters and other places n
amusement, railroads. teegraphs, tele
phones. etc.
So George would contiscate nil the rem,
of land proper, exclusive of buildings and
other improvements, by taxation. The
workingman who has any property sees
! however. that this proposition Of Georges
would a.uaat.s the cottage ard protect
.ae pa 'ee#. auj so the worA.ngrl3..n &C
f5arer tc>.-vss n a mau whose theory re-
ducod ta oeaetics would roo labor and n.
crease tn income II Jev Could
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CtsUzI. AND UNUSUAL rvNTsu.
MENr.
We Sc Indebted! 20 lhe GOA rtasv # Iudce
Lapfarr5 for . rs.r-v- NJ lies ,.,... .-- .. :-