Rocky Ford enterprise., 1913-12-19

not sold by them, but leased or rented.
The renter erects, at his own expense,
such buildings as he needs, and pays
all the taxes When his lease expires
he must pay the increased rent which
his own improvements make possible
to charge, or else move, abandoning
his own building. Some recent sales
show the almost fabulous price which
the absentee landowner receives when
he does sell London real estate in the
more favored sections.
What is Great Britain to do about
it? Democracy. which is. or at least
should be. the policeman and the part
ner of industry, is already in the Uni
ted Kingdom doing something and
plans to do more. Let well enough
alone" no longer satisfies, much less
''let bad alone, lest the change bring
worse"
National Ownership Makes Headway.
Three general plans of land reform
have been seriously considered. and
each, to a degree. has been adopted.
The three plans are naturalization
of the land, the small holdings policy,
and taxation. Twenty years ago the
great NlduSlOue bdlu IL lut tlhS
comes when the British nation finds
that the land should be nationalized.
and 1t is wise to do 1t, they have a
perfect right to do So" Nationaliza-
ton, which means the ownership by
all the people of all the land, is open
ly talked. Indeed. it is put into prac-
tical effect to degree in government
purchase and ownership in the land
purchase acts. That striking form OF
naturalization known as the single
tax, which "prides itself on being ef-
fected without compensation and by
the confiscation by the state OF eco
nomic rent" has many strong advo-
Gates. Rent being a value created by
the whole community, say its support
ers, should belong to the whole com
munity. All economic rent. the rent
of the actual land apart from the i'm
provements. is unearned increment.
The single takers would confiscate not
| the land to the state. but the rent.
Compulsory Sale and Leasing.
Another form of land naturalization
| is considered, though not seriously.
This involves the taking over of all
the land by the state, with compensa-
ton to the landlord. Small holdings
| by compulsory purchases and small
holdings by compulsory leasing are
other plans actually pursued. Under
these schemes the landlord is COM
PEELED to sell or lease small acreages
for actual farm use. Land hire by the
state and land purchase are involved
in this general scheme. A more dras-
| Al INtr
Mr.. VIII Thorne on the house of com
mons. Under the Thorne bill it would
be Illegal for any person to hold. in ag-
ricultural districts, any land, exceed
| ing fifty acres in extent, in waste or
uncultivated state, unless it shall not
be possible TO cultivate such land at a
profit, or unless 1t shall have been
devoted to some purpose of public
utility.
"a Tax to Burst Land Monopoly"
The real attack upon the evils of the
present land ownership. the one about
which the fiercest contention has ta-
ken place. is that in Lloyd-George's g
budget of taxation. Many forms OF
land taxation have been proposed.
considered and. occasionally, adopted.
Land value taxation. in some form. en-.
ters into discussion everywhere. This
new land taxation, however, recently
carried into effect by the Liberal gov
ernment, is not a tax to raise revenue.
but, to quote the pungent phrase of
the chancellor of the eXchequer in pro
| posing it, "a tax to burst the land
monopoly" This new system of taxa.
ton included five per cent. duty on
mining royalties. taxation of gifts of
nature or windfalls. 1t included tax
on the capital value of unworked min
erals, thus stimulating the exploitation
of mines hitherto unworked. The i'm
portant principles of the new taxation,
however, are involved in the incre.
ment tax, the tax on pndeveloped
building land and on leasehold rever-
sions. Under these sections two tax
values are placed on land, the site
value and the improved value. The
tendency of the tax, as shown by its
actual workings, is to bring more
building land into the market, thus
relieving congestion in the cities and
the country.
| Under the system of long lease
holds. which is peculiar to Great Bri-
tain, the owner of the freehold OBJ
tains. on the expiration of the lease
its failing in." to employ an English
phrase-"a property which has sub
stantially increased in value by reason
of the general growth of the commun-
ity and independently of any expendi-
ture of labor or enterprise on the part
of the owner"