RURAL PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT 121 



complicated system of paying for those improvements, in part by the 

 owner of the land and in part by the inhabitants at large, it would 

 probably be impossible to distinguish between the public and private 

 expenditure in any system of valuing land apart from improvements. . 



Moreover we have seen that any method of valuation may be 

 subject to abuse, and destroy the object of any system of taxation. 

 To avoid the confusion of distinguishing between public and private 

 expenditure, it is claimed that "the individual right is lost in the com- 

 mon right," thus showing that, in confiscating rent, a certain amount 

 of confiscation of improvements would almost be inevitable. 



But whatever practical difficulties there might be in applying 

 the theories of Henry George, they could be overcome by any people 

 willing to allow land to revert to common ownership. That is the 

 simple and straightforward proposal of Henry George, who claimed 

 that "if chattel slavery be unjust, then is private property in land 

 unjust." 



Other Systems of Taxing Land Values 



Numerous hybrid systems of taxing land values are advocated 

 which have little in common with the system propounded in Pro- 

 gress and Poverty. So far as these systems are designed to secure for 

 the community that which belongs to the community, and for the 

 private owner that which he has created or produced by his labour 

 and enterprise, few people are likely to object to the proposal. But, 

 before that end can be obtained there must be a just and scientific 

 system of valuation on which to base taxation, and there must be 

 recognition of the fact that land has different values for different 

 uses and should be valued with some regard to these uses, no matter 

 where it is situated. 



If agricultural land within or near a city is taxed at its value for 

 building land then, as already pointed out, the owner cannot farm it at 

 a profit; and yet it may be in the interest of the whole community 

 that he should farm it. On the other hand, it is not desirable that 

 he should be permitted to hold it up for inflated building values 

 without having to contribute a large portion of the "unearned incre- 

 ment" to the community which, by its presence and expenditure, 

 has created that increment. 



If a man has a nursery in the city, which provides a desir- 

 able open space and is put to full productive use for horticul- 

 tural purposes, is it desirable that he should be taxed out of 

 existence as a nurseryman because the land has a potential building 

 value? On the other hand, is he to enjoy a low tax, which he can 

 11 



