Defects of the single tax as a scheme of social and economic reform. 1. The appropriation by society of the rent and increase in value of land will abolish the selling value of land and constitute the state the universal landlord. B. Confiscation of private property in land is not desirable, for 1. By a process of evolution society has evolved from a state of common or community ownership of land to a state of private ownership of land. 2. Private ownership of land is the basis of our civilization. C. It will result in discouraging the policy of conservation, for 1. A premium will be placed on exploiting natural resources. 2. Timber lands especially will suffer, for a. The timber will have to be cut to pay the taxes, for (1) The land yields no income until the timber is cut. The single tax agitation has rendered many valuable services: it has aided in the reform of our taxation system; it has directed attention to the social effects of taxation; 66. Services rendered by the single tax agitation 1 The majority of economists are agreed that the single tax, as advocated by Henry George, is too radical and drastic a reform ever to find wide acceptance among the American people. Nevertheless, the single tax agitation has performed a number of valuable services, as Dr. Young points out in the following selection: Single taxers have found a ready object of criticism in existing tax methods, and they have not come short of their opportunity to point out faults. In this they have performed a most valuable public service. They have occupied a prominent place in the ranks of tax reformers. So far as destructive criticism goes they have frequently been in close agreement with those having other tax ideals. They have persistently laid bare the theoretical and administrative defects of the general property tax; they have shown the injustice of poll taxes; they have set forth the burdensomeness of federal indirect taxation; they have labored assiduously to relax the rigid tax clauses of state constitutions; and they have worked ardently for the juster and more efficient administration of taxes. Finally, single taxers have directed attention to the social effects of taxation. The principle of using the taxing power as a means of social reform has unquestionably gained a wider acceptance as the result of the single tax agitation. . 1 From Arthur Nichols Young, The Single Tax Movement in the United States. Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1916; pp. 313, 315, 319. ... the move ment to natural Another most important way in which the single tax movement it has aided has exerted influence has been in directing attention to the vital importance of the conservation of natural resources. [Single conserve taxers] have actively opposed the efforts which from time to time have been made to induce Congress to grant away the remainder of the nation's natural resources to those who covet them without requiring a due return. resources, directed attention to the problem of poverty. Finally, the American single tax movement has been a powerful and it has force insistently directing attention to the vexed problem of poverty. . . . Through the propaganda of Henry George and his followers hundreds of thousands have been led to consider how the condition of mankind may be ameliorated. Never before has the pressing importance of social reform been felt as in the last generaticn. The most vital message of Henry George's life and work was the urgency of social reform. Whatever the fate of the remedy for which he so earnestly contended, one thing is sure. Henry George made it plain that no true civilization can avoid the duty of finding a means to "extirpate poverty" and "to lighten the burdens of those compelled to toil." Questions on the foregoing Readings 1. Define single tax. 2. Just what is meant by land value? 3. What is the importance of Henry George in the single tax agitation? 5. What, according to George, is the reason for this persistence? 7. What remedy did George propose for the eradication of poverty? 9. Outline briefly the results which George claimed would follow from an application of his "remedy.” 10. Outline the case in favor of the single tax. 11. What are the chief arguments against the single tax? 12. What, according to Dr. Young, has been the service rendered by the single taxers with regard to taxation reform in this country? Nature of the single tax, as proposed by George. The single tax would encourage production, render possible a more equal distribution of wealth, use of land is necessarily the denial of the right of labor to its own produce. . . . To this fundamental wrong we have traced the unjust distribution of wealth which is separating modern society into the very rich and the very poor. 63. Results claimed for the single tax1 After advancing arguments to substantiate his claim that the private ownership of land is unjust, George next considers the best means of applying his "remedy." His proposal is to allow individuals to retain possession of "their" land, but to confiscate land value by taxation. He further proposes to abolish all other taxes, thus making the tax on land value a single tax. This single tax is to take all land value for the benefit of the community, and is to be the source of all public revenue. George advanced the following claims for the single tax: To abolish the taxation which, acting and reacting, now hampers every wheel of exchange and presses upon every form of industry, would be like removing an immense weight from a powerful spring. Imbued with fresh energy, production would start into new life, and trade would receive a stimulus which would be felt to the remotest arteries. . . . All would be free to make or to save, to buy or to sell, unfined by taxes, unannoyed by the tax-gatherer. Instead of saying to the producer, as it does now, “The more you add to the general wealth the more shall you be taxed!” the state would say to the producer, "Be as industrious, as thrifty, as enterprising as you choose, you shall have your full reward! You shall not be fined for making two blades of grass grow where one grew before; you shall not be taxed for adding to the aggregate wealth.” ... [The single tax would also have a desirable effect upon the distribution of wealth.] . . . If it went so far as to take in taxation the whole of rent, the cause of inequality would be totally destroyed. Rent, instead of causing inequality, as now, would then promote equality. Labor and capital would then receive the whole produce, minus that portion taken by the state in the taxation of land 1 From Henry George, Progress and Poverty. Appleton & Co. Book IX, Chapters I, II, and IV. Book VIII, Chapter ш. values, which, being applied to public purposes, would be equally distributed in public benefits. That is to say, the wealth produced in every community would be divided in wages and interest between individual producers, according to the part each had taken in the work of production; the other part would go to the community as a whole, to be distributed in public benefits to all its members. In this all would share equally — the weak with the strong, young children and decrepit old men, the maimed, the halt, and the blind, as well as the vigorous. ... [The single tax would work great improvements in social organiza- improve tion and social life.] Noticeable among these is the great simplicity government, which would become possible in government. To collect taxes, to prevent and punish evasions, to check and counter-check revenues drawn from so many distinct sources, now make up probably three-fourths, perhaps seven-eighths of the business of government, outside of the preservation of order, the maintenance of the military arm, and the administration of justice. An immense and complicated network of governmental machinery would thus be dispensed with. tration of law, In the administration of justice there would be a like saving of facilitate strain. Much of the civil business of our courts arises from disputes the adminisas to ownership of land. These would cease when the state was civil and virtually acknowledged as the sole owner of land, and all occupiers criminal became practically rent-paying tenants. . . . The rise of wages, the opening of opportunities for all to make an easy and comfortable living, would at once lessen and would soon eliminate from society the thieves, swindlers, and other classes of criminals who spring from the unequal distribution of wealth. Thus the administration of the criminal law, with all its paraphernalia of policemen, detectives, prisons, and penitentiaries, would, like the administration of the civil law, cease to make such a drain upon the vital force and attention of society. We should get rid, not only of many judges, bailiffs, clerks and prison keepers, but of the great host of lawyers who are now maintained at the expense of producers; and talent now wasted in legal subtleties would be turned to higher pursuits. . . All this simplification and abrogation of the present functions allow an of government would make possible the assumption of certain other extension of numerous public services, and, in summary, would carry civilization to yet nobler heights. The single tax doctrine has attracted world-wide attention. functions which are now pressing for recognition. Government could take upon itself the transmission of messages by telegraph as well as by mail; of building and operating railroads, as well as of opening and maintaining common roads. . ... ... There would be a great and increasing surplus revenue from the taxation of land values, for material progress, which would go on with greatly accelerated rapidity. . . . This revenue arising from the common property, could be applied to the common benefit. . . We could establish public baths, museums, libraries, gardens, lecture rooms, music and dancing halls, theatres, universities, technical schools, shooting galleries, play grounds, gymnasiums, etc. Heat, light, and motive power, as well as water, might be conducted through our streets at public expense; our roads be lined with fruit trees; discoverers and inventors rewarded, scientific investigations supported; and in a thousand ways the public revenues made to foster efforts for the public benefit. . . ... [In summary the application of this remedy to the problem of poverty would] raise wages, increase the earnings of capital, extirpate pauperism, abolish poverty, give remunerative employment to whoever wishes it, afford free scope to human powers, lessen crime, elevate morals, and taste, and intelligence, purify government and carry civilization to yet nobler heights." 64. The case for the single tax1 The doctrine of single tax, as expounded by Henry George, has attracted the attention of social reformers the world over. Thousands of articles, pamphlets and books have been written upon the subject. The doctrine has been lauded by a small group, condemned outright by a larger group, and accepted in part by a considerable number of thinking people. The following extract from the Debaters' Handbook Series gives in compact form the various arguments which have been advanced in favor of an acceptance of the doctrine of single tax: 1 From the Debaters' Handbook Series, Selected Articles on Single Tax. Compiled by Edna D. Bullock. The H. W. Wilson Co., White Plains, New York, 1915; pp. xiii-xvi. |