The Richfield recorder. (Richfield, Idaho) 1909-1931, 1914-01-15


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
the absentee landowner receives when
he does sell London real estate in the
more favored sections.
What is Great Britain to do about
1t? 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 a
perfect right to do So" Nationalist
ton. which means the ownership by
ly talked Indeed. it is put into prac-
tical effect to a 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 eff
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 contiscate 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.. Will 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
profit, or unless it 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 fercest 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 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
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 unworked. The i'm.
Dortant principles of the new taxation,
however, are involved in the incre-
nent tax, the tax on undeveloped
building land and on leasehold reyer-
'ions. Under these sections two tax
7alues are placed on land, the site
value and the improved value. The
endency of the tax, as shown by it's
lctual workings, is to bring more
building land into the market, thus
congestion in the cities and
he country
Under the system Of long lease ]
lolds, which is peculiar to Great Bri-
ain, the owner of the freehold OBJ |
aims, on the expiration of the lease
is falling ill.," to employ an English {
hrase-"a property which has sub {
tantially increased in value by reason {
f the general growth of the commun- |
" and independently of any expendi- {
ure of labor or enterprise on the part l
f the owner
The budget levies ten per cent duty
pom the margin by which the lease
old has appreciated since it was last
ranted Agricultural leases are ex-
mpt from this duty, as are all leases
lade within the last twenty-one years.
20 Per Cent. Increment Duty.
founded on the same principle"
ointed out Mr.. Horace B. Samuel, In