THE CALL OF THE LAND 



next too lightly. Now, it is clear on slight 

 thought that any single tax system exagger- 

 ates every such unfairness to the utmost, 

 while by settling taxes on many things you 

 tend to offset losses with gains. 



More serious still is it that a single tax 

 system of any sort would greatly lack elas- 

 ticity. To secure this quality, you must tax 

 so many articles that surpluses may be put 

 over against deficits between them, and 

 some of the articles must be of such a nature 

 that the burden upon them may in an emer- 

 gency be suddenly increased. 



No minister of finance will ever have the 

 omniscience to make the revenue and ex- 

 penditure sides of his yearly budget bal- 

 ance exactly. Income may fall short; it 

 may be redundant. As it is visibly bad 

 policy to plan for an assured surplus, he 

 must each year be prepared to meet a deficit. 

 Now, the most economical way to do this is 

 by an instant increase of taxation on some 

 commodity that will bear it. Any form of 

 impost may be suddenly lowered, but few 

 are those which can with safety be suddenly 



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