Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1921-11-16
THE QUESTION OF TAXATION
BY John 3. Bosch
Atwater, Minnesota .


Lord for politeness' sake), has shown
US that complete monopoly Of money
and credit has been created by the
Federal Reserve system.
The money combine has the power
to initiate or debate as they please.
The farmers have been Debated of
a few billions of dollars and somebody
has profited by the deflation to the
same extent as the farmers have lost.
Mr.. Lord, l think, forgot to tell us
who they are. He winds up with an
anti-c!imax by saying that the money
combine isn't really so bad after
all, not nearly so bad as the profit
eering landlord, and that tho thing
for the farmers to- do is to join with,
the merchants and manufacturers as
sociation, and boost for the Keller
bills.
The main features Of the Keller
bills are that they will abolish. the
excess profits tax and corporation in
come tax and levy instead land val
ues tax. Mr.. Lord, has had ample
space to present his side of tho ques"
ton and as the g. aims
to give both sides of important ques-
lions hearing. l wish to take up
some space as an .op2on nnt of the
single tax in all Of its forms.
never met a single taxer who did
not look at the full application of the
single tax as the final goal aimed at.
And what is the aim of the sing c tax?
It is nothing more nor less than the
confiscation of land values and the
doing away with private ownership
of land. Let us hear from Mr.. Henry
George himself. He says, y do not
propose either to purchase or to con-
fiscate private property in land. The
first would be unjust, the second.
needless. Let the individuals who now
hold it, retain it if they want to, pos
session of what they are pleased to
call their land. Let them continue to
cali it their land Let them buy and
sell and bequeath and deyise it. We
may safely leave them the shell if we
take the kernel. It is not necessary
to confiscate land, it is only necessary
to confiscate rent" Mr.. George states
which is more than some present day
see, however, that where the rental
value is taken in taxes, the title is
worthless and also every security
based on land values.
There are a number Of reasons why
the single tax theory will not work
out in practice quite the same as Mr..
George worked it out on paper. First
the single takers adopt the definition
of Adam Smith, that there are three
factors in the production of wealth
land, labor and capital. When Adam
Smith wrote that there was no capital
ist class in the modern sense OF the
term, no Federal Reserve system, nc
merchants and manufacturers associa
ton. The Land was held by the no
bility who could neither sell nor lose
it. It belonged to the mobiles only
while they lived and after their death
the Oldest son, Or if there was none
some other relative inherited it,, The
order of succession could not be
changed. At that time raw materials
" were worked un into the finished prod
uct locally and the. workers were, con
trol!ed by the land owners who thus
absorbed the lions share of the Great
ed wealth. Yet Adam Smith was
. wrong in naming land factor Of pro
ducti0n. Land Is necessary in the
) process of production just as rain arl
sunshine are, but these are not human
factors and that is all we can consider
Nothing is wealth that does not salts
fy some human need and accumulated
wealth is: simply completed labor o.
-, the result, OF past labo-. Thus {
'bushel of wheat. a building, a machine
or work Of art, represents certain
amount Of human labor. All these arr
created by:.abor, all wealth is created
by labor. u,
> :! Mr.. Lord advises the farmer !. Il
: study the question of taxation. Tha
:: is good advice. The question has beer
muddled by a wrong notion of its ma
ture. The single taxer has the happ!
pain painisss tasatio,, Nsth d1, can 5;
taxed. that, Ii, nothing can pay taxes
except productive labor. Land canno