Tensas gazette. [volume] (St. Joseph, La.) 1886-current, 1913-12-26

Americans who visit London have let
tiers of credit, some Offices we're sold.
the price for the freehold being ST.
$50 900, or nearly $3.50 a square foot
which is about s15,OOO,OOO an acre!
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 Roadway.
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 Gladstone said: IF the time
comes when the British nation finds
that the land should be nationaliZed,
and it is wise to do it, they have
perfect right to do So" Nationalist
ton, which means the ownership by
all the people of all the land, is open
ly talked. Indeed, it is put into prac-
teal effect to a degree in government
purchase and ownership in the land
purchase acts. That striking form Of
naturalization known as the single
fow xrrhfo Of
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 inn
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-
tic measure has just been proposed by
Mr.. VIII Thorne on the house of com
mons. Under the Thorne bill IL would
be illegal for any person to hold. in ag-
ricultural districts, any land, exceed
ing fifty acres in extent. in a waste or
uncultivated state, unless II 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 Ia
ken place, is that in Lloyd-George's
budget of taxation. Many forms of
land taxation have been proposed.
considered and, occasionally, adopted.
Land value taxation. in some form. en-
tiers into discussion everywhere. This
new land taxation, however, recently
carried into effect by the Liberal gov
eminent, 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, a 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 unworkej. The i'm
portant principles of the new taxation,
however, are involved in the incre-
ment tax, the tax on undeveloped
building land and on leasehold reyer-
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 Bril- |
tain, the owner of the freehold OBJ |
tains, on the expiration of the lease
its falling 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"
The budget levies ten per cent. duty
upon the margin by which the lease
hold has appreciated since it was last |
granted. Agricultural leases are ex-
empt from this duty, as are all leases
made within the last twenty-one years.
20 Per Cent. Increment Duty.
Founded on the same principle"
pointed out Mr.. Horace B. Samuel. in
this effort to burst the land
lis the actual increment
duty itself. This is a duty of 20 per
cent, levied at death, on transfer, or
at intervals Of fifteen years (about the
average period at which all land in the
United Kingdom, through one cause
or another changes hands) on the ac-