CHAPTER III. 



THE FARMER AND THE SINGLE TAX. 



HENRY GEORGE (" Science of Political Economy," Book 

 II, Chapter V) defined the " single-tax " doctrine to be 

 "the abolition of all taxes whatever on the making, 

 the exchanging, or the possession of wealth in any form, and 

 the recourse for public revenues to economic rent; the net or 

 surplus product; the (to the individual) unearned increment 

 which attaches to land wherever, in the progress of society, 

 an}^ particular piece of land comes to afford to the user supe- 

 rior opportunities to those obtainable on land that any one 

 is free to use." 



The term "rent," as employed in the above definition, has 

 a meaning somewhat different from that given to it in common 

 speech, and includes only the sum paid, or which could be 

 paid, for the use of bare land, entirely destitute of any improve- 

 ments. The term " ground rent" as used in cities to denote a 

 sum paid for the use of land upon which to erect buildings, 

 conveys some idea of the meaning of the term as used in 

 economic science, but in common speech the term "rent" is 

 confined to sums actually paid out for the use of land, or, 

 indeed, personal property, while in economic science it is 

 absolutely restricted to land, but includes not only sums paid, 

 but which could be paid; in fact, every profit of any kind 

 which accrues to the individual from the use of land. 



Advocates of the single tax hold that there can be no such 

 thing as ownership of land. Land, like air, should be free 

 for all to use. The custodian of the land is the state, whose 

 sole duty, in respect to it, is the regulation of its use. A 

 proper regulation is that individuals using the land shall pay 

 to the state, to be employed for the public good, whatever profit 

 arises from its use. Those who hold land, claiming to own 

 it, and therefore paying no rent to the state, are held tx) be 



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