Job THE Ql'ESTIONS OF THE DAY. 



449,172.* The equalized valuatioi] of the same property fui 

 1891 was $1,013,394,461, an increase of $121,945,209. If it 

 was really a "true valuation" in the sense that single taxers 

 use the word, that is, free from any speculative taint, it should, 

 at five per cent, have yielded or earned a net income of 

 $50,669,723. In my judgment single taxers could well afford 

 to accept the valuation of 1891 as really the "true value" of 

 everything which they would call "land" — and as I write this 

 I have no idea how the tax is coming out, for I have not yet 

 made the computation. 



The equalized value of "city and town lots" without im- 

 provements was $348,763,183. If the local state and national 

 tax of 1891 of $25,995,641 had been assessed on city and town 

 lots alone, the rate would have been $7.10 on $100, or 7.1 per 

 cent. No other property would have been taxed at all. 



The total assessment of real estate without improvements, 

 including farm property and city and town lots, was $764,311,- 

 877. If the national state and local taxes had been assessed 

 on this property the rate would have been $3.40 on $100, or 

 3.4 per cent. The averaged equalized value of country lands 

 taxed in 1891 was $11.56 per acre. Under the single tax land 

 owners would have paid an average rental to the state of 39.3 

 cents per acre, and paid no other tax — local, state, or national.f 

 Of course some would have paid more and others less. 



The total assessed valuation of all property in California, 



*The "true valuation " of real estate and improvements subject to taxation 

 in California in 1890 is given in the census returns as $1,517,565,300, which 

 gives an average value per acre for the land taxed of $35.27, To those who 

 know California and have viewed the enormous areas of taxed land which is 

 worth almost nothing, any such valuation is sufficiently absurd. If from this 

 "true valuation " the total equalized assessed value of city and town lots be 

 deducted, and the remainder divided by thirty-five million nine hundred fifty 

 thousand four hundred sixteen — the number of acres assessed in 1891 — the -value 

 per acre of country lands will appear as $32.79, which at five per cent should 

 give a rental value of $1.64 per aero. The areas of arid and almost worthless 

 land are so large in California that $15 to .'$18 per acre for land and improve- 

 m(fnts is quite high enough for an estimated avci'age. 



t These computations do not include poll or license taxes, as data are not 

 available. 



