Evening journal., 1913-02-10

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1T is sure to fall more heavily on
the necessities OF life than on the
luxuries and has without fail to be
paid by the consumer
when the assessor comes around
he easily places a value on tools, cat
tie, wagons. grain, etc, but rarely
knows the value of the things which
the rich have.
when such taxes are levied upon
food products It merely raises the
prices of these to the consumer The
producer cheerfully pays the tax
knowing that all other producers will
have to pay Il and there will be no
competition to prevent his collecting
this amount from the consumer in
higher prices
"A tax upon houses. since no one
can build a house without paying the
tax. is necessarily added. to the house
rent therefore a tax upon houses
raises rents.
THAT this is necessarily true, may
be seen by imagining What would hap
pen If the taxes on all houses mot
land) were doubled.
Builders would not take the risk
OF building houses unless they we're
assured of rents sufficiently high to
! include the tax. For a while less
houses would be built until the higher
rents were fully established. The
scarcity Of houses resulting from
this would help to raise rents, till
these we're enough higher to include
the tax.
THE very opposite of this is true
with respect to taxes on the value on
land Land does not have to be built,
It is there anyhow, and taxation does
not produce any scarcity of land as
it does of houses.
Taxation makes it less profitable to
hold land out of use therefore makes
land spectators willing to sell at a
lower price. If there be a prospect Of
an increasing tax on the value of
land, land speculation will be hope
lessly Improbable and those who are
holding land for rise will sell at any
1 price rather than hold the land and
pay taxes. Thus It will become neces-
sary to improve property in order to
make it pay. This will produce ten
dency to build more houses, which will
lower rents. Thus it is seen that a
tax on houses raises rents and a tax
on land values lowers rents.
"Any tax levied upon the products
and processes of industry since it
raises the expenses of all producers
alike will be collected with certainty
from the consumer.
"The reason I say that taxation of
labor products is a diabolical kind OF
taxation is that il acts like a double
force lever. making the consumers
pay the taxes without their knowing it,
and by relieving the speculator from
paying for his privileges enables him
also to squeeze the consumer.
"It is worse than the poll tax be-
cause the poll tax can only he col
lected if the man has money, while
this tax can be collected in the extra
shovelsful of earth which the laboreT
has to handle to get a mouthful ol
food
"The worst effect OF this kind OF tax
alton Is that it produces a landed aris'
tocracy by relieving landholders from
paying to support the government
thus enabling them to hold land out o.
use even though the rest Of the people
! starve. The famine in ireland which
J ! OcCuTIeu III bnt iuiuuiC VI eAN '"N-
tury was produced only by landlord
ism.
During the whole time of the IA
mine. when the people died so tas'
that the bodies had to be piled II
trenches for burial, Ireland was ex'
porting enough food to feed her starV-
ing population. But the food had tC
. be exported to pay rent to absentee
landlords who we're living in luXur,
in France. England and elsewhere.
Taxation of actual wealth Is dia
metricaliy opposed to the principle o
Justice pointed out in Chapter VII, be
cause those upon whom the govern
ment confers advantage. escapini
paying for 1t, while those who arr
sacrificed for the advantage conferred
upon others, have to bear the who'll
, expense.
Taxation of Privilege.
"This kind OF taxation, and thi
! only. Is in strict accord with our ma
, tural perceptions of justice.
"A tax upon privilege is but a re
! quirement that when the governmen
confers upon any person or a grou
OF persons, any advantage, It is TO b
D paid for in proportion as II
E disadvantage to the rest o
the people. II is. therefore. II
S strict accord with the principle o
S justice already pointed out
= 1--WE can now consider the justice o
taxing the different kinds of privileg
s referred to in Chapter VI.
= Street railway franchises could b
v taxed with perfect Justice AS 500
= as a street railway began to sho'
A such profits that It began to be mani
! fest that the franchise had a valu
; over and above anything attributabl
\ to the investment OF capital or goo
4 management. this value could be tah
!, en- by taxation levied upon the valu
I OF its franchise.
Il do not especially favor thi
plan as I think il would be muc
: better to require that lower fare
: be charged but I am pointing OF
that II privilege of charging an eS
o cessive fare be granted. there woul
be nothing inconsistent with goo
n public policy in taxing this privileg
o "rhe same may be said Of electri
d light and gas franchises. AS to tel'
phone franchises. almost anything {
d this kind would be better than III
y silly expedient Of granting franchise
Is TO two supposedly competing con
e panies whereby the active bushes
man has TO pay for two telephone
l. instead of one.
N "All OF these kinds of privilege
E. could. as I have shown, be taxed wit
s perfect justice, but to tax them will
= out I'm any way checking the priv
n lego OF holding land for speculatio
- would be positively harmful, as
- would lift the burden of city COVER;