146 RATES AND TAXES 



interest have increased without any corre- 

 sponding special benefit to agriculture. 

 At the same time, especially of recent years, 

 agriculture has become less able to bear 

 taxation. The popular idea that there is 

 in land-values a large unearned increment 

 available is, as applied to agricultural land, 

 the reverse of the truth. On the whole, the 

 rental of land is kept up because a large part 

 of it is expended on the land. A tax, even if 

 it falls on rent, tends to depress agriculture. 



With regard to remedies, what is required 

 is a complete reorganisation of the whole 

 system of local finance ; and in this reform, 

 agriculture should receive equitable treat- 

 ment, having regard to actual conditions, and 

 not to fictions, whether legal, historical or 

 economic. 



THE END 



Printed by Cowan 6 Co., Ltd., Perth. 



