El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1911-10-24

Elimination Of taxes on all improve
ments on land whether they be Dulld-
tngs, crops, irrigation bitches or any
other improvements OF personal prop
erty, and the es1a blishmeut of single
tax on land values, was advocated Dy
Henry George, 1r, New YORK congress
man. in his address at the III Paso
chamber Of commerce Tuesday morn
ing.
6Ir. George was well received by
those IN attendance. to whom he spoke
In part as follows. ana ana,
Wash. advertises that 'Wala W ala
wants your / went there in response,
but WaIla Walla did not want me be-
cause 1t taxed all business and all i'm
prOTements on land. vancouver brit
ish COlum bia, did want me because it
did not tax business, but merely land
values. Walla Walla is actually trying
to get rid of its business men by tax
ing their businesses. But they have
found out. as they have in New York,
that YOU cannot arrange the personal
tax equitably. The mayor Of New
York IS now advOca ting the elimination
Of the personal tax for this reason, and
/ think q bill viii be passed there to
take personal taxes from the books
Vaneouver's Method.
"The city council and business men
Of Vancouver found that the best way
TO get business was TO tax improve
menrS and personal property at only 5O
percent then they reduced 1t to 20
finally they have removed all taxation
from personal property and improve
ments.
Here in FL Paso you discourage the
man who builds because he must figure
on I or or 3 percent taxation on his
buildings each year In Vancouver
they tax land values only
"a house represents the work Of man,
the whole community There is q vacant
lot Who made its value? Not the
man who owns it, but the whole com
muuity by its increase in population.
"El Paso is the site for great city
1t IS destined to be a great city ana
land values win increase with the In
crease in population. If that increase in
value comes from all the population
why should the benefit go to one In
dividual2
Thou shalt not steal says the dec
alOgue. Thou shalt not steal from the
public as well as the Individual. The
value OF land belongs to the public
Now We Tax Men.
You viii need new pavement bet
ter illumination, better courts, you
must ps Y your mayor and other officers
higher salaries. All those things cost
money. You tax men for this purpose.
Why not tax land values which increase
as the city increases in grOWth2 Now I
we tax land values which are made by /
all the community and tax what is done /
by the individual
by taxing land values alone we are I
Just to the community and besides be-
ing just IL makes your city grow II 4
we have no taxes on buildings and ]
businesses the people win come here, 1
as they have gone to the northwest
'The landowners, the men who own 4
your city, get the benefit now. Sup I
pose the government is going TO spend !
millions on improvements here. The !
landowners get the benefit because the /
value Of land increases as the city be- I
-T-a
population. BY taking taxes off other
things and placing It on land values
you VIII eliminate land grabbing
Vancouver did not Increase its tax or
land values when IL took the tax off
other things, and as a result people \
there have to pay high rents.
LJsnd values belong 10 everybody. /
Why should one man say, This land is F.
mine2 Why should the coal trust say, /
This land belongs to me and Z shall de-
velOp fl only so much as I ike that /
/ may keep up. the price Of coal and I
keep down the wages OF labOr2 That !
and made Us to live in this world, he I
made us dependent on nature We pray
daily, Thy viii be done on earth as 1T I
IS in heaven When Jesus gave that {
prayer TO man he was q practical man.
II a few Of the first Corners stood at
the gate Of heaven and charged each /
one admission what sort Of a heaven
would 1t be? But we arroEare TO our
11lfr1 L-lS --8-L 10 say JUN ou4ES
owns this estate, just as though the
deed were handed down from heaven
10 the president Of the coal trust with
the compliments Of God almighty.
Paying for Use.
Let everybody use the land, but let
him pay for the privilege. The land
OF FL Paso belongs to the public. That
does not mean that we have to divide