The independent., 1903-05-14
DID GOD oRDAIN THE SINGLE TAXI


rent to be taken for the uses of So
ciety, or by the community for the
needs of the community, was met
by the following reply: Show me the
documents in which God has declared
His intentions. If you have a COM
mission authorizing you to declare the
designs of the Almighty, produce it
so that the signature can be examined
and its genuineness proved"
Here is truly doubling Thomas
who has no fear of the verbal bludg-
con. Thus saith the Lord; one who
has SO often witnessed the name and
high authority of God invoked to
bolster up lie, to perpetuate wrong
and stiae protest, that he very prop
erly looks with suspicion upon any
scheme whatever that is alleged to
bear His Endorsement.
| respect this attitude But since
the arguments have already ad-
Eanced have failed to show this OBJ
Jector the validity of the claim made
by single takers that the single tax
is ordained Of God, let me reproduce
here the argument made by Henry
almost literally from his book, The
Condition of Labor:
Whatever merit may be claimed for
present schemes of raising public
revenues, no one for a moment will
contend that any of them are God
ordained. The monstrous customs du-
ties that hamper intercourse between
sO-called Christian nations; the taxes
on occupations, on earnings, on ir-
vestments, on the building of houses,
On the cultivation Of fields, on indus
try and thrift in all forms are purely
schemes of men. God is not in them.
Of that kind Of wisdom which kills the
cow to wean the calf. The only prin
ciple which underlies them is that Of
getting the most feathers with the
least sQuawKing. They are all taxes
of human invention and all violate
the moral law. They take by force
what belongs to the individual alone,
they give to the unscrupulous an ad-
vantage over the scrupulOus; they
have The effect, nay are largely in
tended, to in,rease the price of what
some have to sell and others must
buy; they corrupt government; they
make oaths mockery; they shacklc
commerce; they fine industry and
thrift; they lessen the wealth that
men might enjoy, and enrich some
by impoverishing others. They stand
condemned not only by reason, but by
the experience of thousands of years.
by their fruits you shall know
them" ~&
Can anything more clearly show
that to tax the products and pro-
Cesses of industry as is now done is
not the way of God intended public
revenues to Se raised?
But to consider what we propose
the raising of public revenues by a |
single tax on the value of land ire
spective of improvements to see
that in all respects this does conform
to the moral law.
For, to take land values for the |
state, abolishing all taxes on the prod
ucts of labor, would leave to the la
borer the full produce of labor; to the
individual all that rightfully belongs
to the individual. 1t would impose no
burden on industry, no check on COM
merce, no punishment on thrift; it |
would secure the largest production
and fairest distribution of wealth, by
leaving men free to produce and to
exchange as they please, without any
artificial enhancement of prices; and,
by taking for public purposes a value
that. cannot be carried off, that can
not be hidden. that of all values is the
most easily ascertained and most GER
tainly and cheaply collected, it woulL
lessen the number of Off
cials, dispense with oaths, do away
with temptations to bribery and eva
sion, and abolish man-made crimes in
themselves innocent.
Further, when we see that as pop
ulations increases and industry grows
more elaborate, that at the same time
and from the, same causes land val.
ues increase, and that this con
neetion. is invaria.ble, are
we not justified in saying here is
natural law-that is to say tendency
willed by the Creator? Certainly.
Fhis can mean nothing else than that
He, who ordained the state with its
needs, has III the values.4which at
,ach to- land provided the means to
meet those needs : 5tattsff fff