CHAPTER XXIV 



TAXATION PROBLEMS: SINGLE TAX; PROTECTIVE 



TARIFF 



I. SINGLE TAX 



THE writings of Henry George have popularized the single tax in 

 our own land and in many other lands. The fervor of his eloquence, 

 the beauty and grace of his literary style, and the pure sincerity of 

 his motives have given his work a strong appeal. He has succeeded, 

 as few writers have, in yoking together economics and ethics. 



Definition. A single tax means a tax on land value. By land 

 value is meant the rental value of the land, what it is worth annu- 

 ally for use, its economic rent. The word land, as used by the 

 single taxers, includes minerals, water, oils, and every other thing 

 of value created by nature and forming a part of the earth; and, 

 conversely, the word land excludes all buildings, structures, and 

 creations of man upon or in the land. To illustrate. If the single 

 tax were applied as a substitute for all other forms of taxes, as its 

 name implies it should be, there would cease to be any tax on 

 incomes, or inheritances, on personal property, on imports, on 

 business, on consumption, and so on. In the city, all buildings 

 and their contents would be exempt from taxation the land value 

 alone being taxed. In the country, there would be no tax on houses, 

 barns, other buildings, live stock, tools, grain, or any kind of per- 

 sonal property the land value alone being taxed. 



Incidence of the Tax. The tax burden would be the same total 

 amount, whether the money were secured from the single tax as 

 advocated or from the multiple taxes now in use. But it would 

 fall on different persons on the owners of land values. The 

 farmer, thinking of the millions of acres of farm lands as against the 

 relatively few acres of city land, wonders whether the single tax 

 would not shift the tax burden in large part from the city to the 

 country. Obviously not. For the bulk of the land value is in the 

 cities. Thus the land values in New York City alone are worth 

 more than the total farm land values of one-half the States in the 

 Union. The tax burden, therefore, under the single tax, would 

 somewhat raise taxes in cities and lower taxes on farms, should 

 the single tax be applied at once over the whole nation. However, 

 if the single tax were applied in a State having no- great metro- 



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