The independent. [volume] (Lincoln, Neb.) 1902-1907, 1905-01-12
The Philosophy of Ffedom
An Open Fonum for Single TAKE,

erected, all its| hms bought, in fact all
its capital, WIFI II has been produced by
! the hand of - =, could be duplicated
for $50,000,0OO, This is but per cent
OF the markei value Of the trusts
stock. lis incc De averages about $44,-
OOO,Q0 annual IA Under the income taS
this trust wou n have to pay $3.50, 00(
taxes. Under Re single tax it would
pay SAL 100000 0xes. John D. Rookie
Teller would ha w but s1.OOO.0OO annu-
ally, instead OH S18,000,000, to invest
in other enter ,6ses, and they would
not be monop Mes either. You can
take all the q ct millionaires of the
country, from Rockefeller, Carnegie
Astor, Morgan, tie Vanderbilts, Goulds
ct al. down. p III you will find upon
analysis OF tb 0Ir so-called fortunes,
that the vast bulk OF it is based upon
land values. jlIA like the three for
tunes above cit ~
Revertlng to me farmer, when the
land tax took eject in New Zealand,
one man. namaM Robinson. who held
fOO,UO0 acres OH tfOf use, was obliged to
throw $4,000 acl IS on the market, MAX
ing room for iD00 families. for the
very good reasc ~ that he could not af-
lord TO pay ths higher tax on such a
vast quantity O land when it returned
MIN no lncOmu@ OF course the new
settlers could rd to pay the tax, as
II was less thall#they could have got
ten IT Tor from Robinson, and because
they did not TIL UP any more than
they could profltebly use.
Some thirteen Years ago the British
Columbia par1iE Ment changed the tax
on wild land from specific tax of ~
cents per acre tG an advalorem tax of
2 per cent. A nan named Guichon,
who had bought 4 900 acres some eigh-
teen years previously at 81 per acre,
had recently been offered 100000 cash
for the tract. I'M he refused to SELL
His taxes were Us per year. The sim
gle tax hit him for $1,000 annually
This is fact at can be verified by
writing to the sinister of lands, Vic
torla, B. G. In mediately Guichon ad-
vertlSed in the D3ncipal papers of the
province offerm 4he land in any guam
tity, from 40 { 'r up, at SIS per acre.
A couple years liter the tax was in
creased to per mt An English lord
who had bOugh tM 900 acres adjoining
the city OF New westminster, where
resided from LIS &to 1891, and who was
also paying $75 ayear tax, asked from
$500 to $1,000 1ef acre for the land.
Under the new Nv his taxes were in
creased several thousand dollars. Of
course he had to Mrn the land loose so
that labor could use it, as he was not
big enough foo m pay out thousands
OF dollars annually just for fun.
About 100000 ono acres of land are
In use in the III nited States. Some L.
70S, 100000 acres pre- not used. The
single tax Woulo fprce this 1,708, 100000
acres on the ma rket The result would
be that scores )f#milliOns of acres of
land now in Us would pay no taxes
at all, as men couh get better land for
a nominal tax. Tie poor land of Geor-
gia, unless IN 'e&sonably close prox-
unity to me- ret. would yield no
rent, as better land could be had for
a song. la
Take your oW ncounty for an illus
tratlOn and tax your present assess
ment figures a s3approximately just.
BAY That the lana values are but 1-3
OF the total tax v1lues. Say the aver
age farmers lalld8is worth $1,000 and
MS improvement Rnd personality ST.
600. Say the p re2ent rate averages /
per cent. or $50 pr farmer. Say that
you are correc. IL your assumption
that the rate p-d1l]d be trebled. or 2
per cent. The Average farmers tax
would still be s3QX In 1891 the taxes
PAID IN the Unite4 States to national,
state and locai governments, aggre
gated $4,000. O. The total land
values OF the United States are over
500 600, O00,000 A. per cent tax on this
sum would vie d u 500, 0O0,0 900 taxes.
Now think VIII the Georgia farmer
would save In Mdirect taxes 1t is
estimated by competent statisticians
that 40 per ceiltSof every dollar paid
for the necess;lSes. cOnveniences and
luxuries of lifs, Ire due to the tariff
tax. Say that TN average Georgia far
mer spends $25 annually for such sup
pies tsnsS than 500 of this is on
account OF the tariff. He gets $3.50
worth for his $3.50. Under single tax
he would save this 500. Again, labor
would be SO generally employed and at
49,