The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1895-02-27

up to those who WILL since it will be un-
profitable to hold it idle or for inferior use
when its full rental value Is taken. This
means more and better homes. Through
the stimulus given to building and the thou
sand and one trades benefited thereby,
labor can find employment; wages must go
up, rents fall Land will become cheap.
because speculation in it will be dead. and
industry will be free, all taxes thereon be-
ing removed.
(Let us see.
when its full rental value is taken. This
means more and better homes"
Who is it's full rental value to be taken
from? Primarily from the present wealthy
owners secondarily. from the poor men
who, by this theory. take possession when
the nabobs are crowded out. But can the
poor men pay a load of taxes so great that
the rich men had to give UP the property?
And if the tax the poor man is to pay Is
to be equal to it's full rental value, wherein
Is he better off than he is today? He can
rent the land now by paying the full rental
value to the present possessors What does
he gain by swapping the landlord for the
municipality? And what poor people are
going to take land and build houses and
employ workmen under such circum-
stances? Is it not all delusion and a
snare? And how will industry be free from
taxes when the whole project is to put in
dustry on the land and then pile all the
taxes on it? Oh, nonsense! Thy name is
Single Taxi. d.
M. Donnelly should rid himself of the
notion that the single tax will impose a
heavier burden the holder of land than
1t 0he land) will bear. No tax can do this.
If it could we would all surrender our til
ties to land. 1t simply means that
would take only the rental value of bare
land, and exempt all improvements from
taxation. Competent authorities declare
that IS per cent of the present value of
bare land will suffice for all national, state
and municipal purposes.
But if the single tax does not i'm
pose on the land burden heavier
than it can bear, how an the rich own
ers be compelled to surrender their
titles to their land ?"The scheme will not be
efficacous unless the burden drives off the
rich man; and how is the poor man to
carry it after the rich man is driven Off?
l. d.
Two errors Mr.. Donnely falls into are
clearly manifest:
l. That the single tax (or the advocates
thereoD, would determine amount Ga
fixed sum-, that the holder of land must
pay. This is a common error. The de-
mands of the community alone can deter
mine the value of a particular site, and
this site value is all that would be taken.
1t is tax for special privilege.
Out how is the value of that particular
site to be determined? Clearly by putting
it up at auction and letting the highest
bidder take it. And how much better off
would the poor man be, who works for
dollar or two day, when he came into
competition with the millionaire under that
o
And the millionaire would be richer under
the single tax than he is now, for he would
have been relieved of all taxes on his pos
sessions other than land And how happy
would our correspondent be, after he had
secured a lot and built a home on it, to
have some richer neighbor go to the COM
mon council and offer higher rent Oax)
for it and drive him off? What a magnif1-
cent idea of a home that would bel d.
2. That tax land is the same as
tax on land values. Would you consider
tax on coats, chairs, carriages, ETC., the
same as a tax on the value of such things?
Suppose it were just to tax these articles,
would it be fair to exact the same from
81 coat as one worth $50? Land having no
value would not be taxed. Do you how
light the farmers taxes will be under the
single taX-bare land values only? Respect
fully yours, r. SCHALKGNBACH
Our imperfect intelligence refuses to rec
ognize the sophistry of correspondent.
There can be no tax on land per Sc; all
taxes must be on values" You can't tax
the great Dismal Swamp, the top of
Pixies peak, or the surface of the moon.
You can't collect tax from that which
nobody wants. Our present taxes all
laid on land values-in use or prospective
they higher or lower on account of
greater or less possible productivity. And
when a single taXer throws his head back
and says: I'VE do not propose to tax land,
but land values" he utters shallow soph-
ISM 1t is a mere trick of words
And the farmers taxes now are imposed
His improvements are taxed separa tely.
But after the single tax Gf it went into
effect took a aImer's farm away from
him, then the whole community would
hold a grand auction, to determine how
much the farmer would have to pay to use
his own land! And this would be deter
mined by lot of grinning lawyers, mer-
chants, machine agents, money lenders and
railroad employees, who would practically
determining how much the fool farmer
should pay for the privilege of working
like a slave to raise food to keep life in
their drafted bodies!
And this is the grand substitute for the
Peoples party and the remedy for all the
sorrows of the world!
We refuse to discuss the nonsense any
farther-I D.