A PROGRAM OF RADICAL DEMOCRACY 609 



there are no children, or but one or two. An income tax promotes 

 lying, but it should be adopted, and the sworn statements of all in- 

 comes and expenditures beyond the average should be made public. 

 No one deserves more than, say, four times the average income. A 

 man's services may be worth more than that, but they are made pos- 

 sible by the organization of society. A progressive tax averaging fifty 

 per cent, on incomes above $5,000 would be desirable, if it could be 

 collected. Every one who spends much more than the average should 

 be placed under the supervision of the state. The connotation of steal- 

 ing and robbery has been extended beyond force, but it must be 

 further extended. The tax on corporations is the most excellent and 

 radical measure passed by a recent congress; credit for this should be 

 given to President Taft. In so far as large corporations are undesir- 

 able, they should be taxed progressively. The remaining income re- 

 quired by the national government should be from import and excise 

 taxes on products the use of which involves injury, luxury and waste. 



7. A local and state progressive tax on real estate and tangible per- 

 sonal property. State and local taxes should be on real estate and 

 tangible personal property, situated where the receipts from the taxes 

 are used. It is not clear that the increment of value on land belongs 

 to the public more than the increment of value on personal property, 

 but a transfer tax on real estate, based partly on the increment of value, 

 can be conveniently collected and would discourage speculative hold- 

 ing. There should also be a large transfer tax on stocks and bonds, the 

 increment of value being taken into consideration. A progressive tax 

 on dwellings is the most useful of local taxes. A house or tenement, 

 the rental value of which or of whose apartments is under $150 a year, 

 especially if owned by the occupants, might be exempt, while a million- 

 dollar dwelling might be taxed a hundred thousand dollars a year. 

 Dwellings represent pretty accurately the annual expenditures, and a 

 progressive tax is the most convenient way of taxing these. There 

 should be a high progressive tax on tangible personal property that is 

 not the tools of production — on expensive furnishings, pleasure auto- 

 mobiles and the like. Owners might be allowed to place their own 

 valuation on real estate and personal property, the state or any individ- 

 ual being permitted to purchase it at twenty per cent, advance, the 

 property being redeemable by the original owner on payment of this 

 margin. 



8. The conversion of the army into local police forces and corps for 

 engineering work and other improvements. The conversion of the navy 

 into a merchant marine. We should have the best army for defense and 

 improved police forces if all local police were soldiers, one twelfth of 

 their wages being paid by the nation and one month annually being 

 spent in camps and drills. Idling in barracks is a method for the 



