Appletons' Popular Science Monthly, October 1899: Vol. LV, May to October, 1899Various
Philosophy
Appletons' Popular Science Monthly, October 1899: Vol. LV, May to October, 1899
Various
Science -- Periodicals; Technology -- Periodicals
"The advantages of a tax on house rentals," said the commission, "can
be easily stated. It is clear, almost impossible of evasion, easy of
administration, well fitted to yield a revenue for local uses, and
certain to yield such a revenue. It is clear, because the rental value
of a house is comparatively easy to ascertain. The tax is based on a
part of a man's affairs which he publishes to all the world. It
requires no inquisition and no inquiry into private matters; it uses
simply the evidence of a man's means which he already offers."[13] If
this tax were to be given it would be possible to wipe out all the tax
on incomes from "profession, trade, or employment," to abolish the
existing assessments on personal property. The effects would be
far-reaching. If loans of money are free from taxation, the purchasing
power of money in the same degree must diminish, which simply means
that the purchasing power of farms and products of farms for money
must to the same extent increase; hence, the borrower on bond and
mortgage will not be subject to double taxation--first, in the form of
increased rate of interest, and then in taxation of his real
estate--and hence the farmer or landowner who is not in the habit of
either lending or borrowing money will find his ability to meet
additional taxation on his land increased in additional value of land
and products of land in proportion as the tax is removed from money at
interest. Also, the exemption of the products of farms and things
consumed on farms from taxation will give a corresponding increased
value to compensate for the "building-occupancy" tax. Tenants
controlled by all-pervading natural laws can and will give increased
rents, if their personal property is exempt primarily from taxation.
The average profits of money at interest or of dealings in visible
personal property free from taxation can not exceed, for any
considerable length of time, the average profits of real estate, risk
of investment and skill in management taken into consideration; and
therefore the real pressure of taxation under the proposed system will
finally be, like atmospheric pressure or pressure of water, on all
sides, and by a natural uniform law executed upon all property in
every form used and consumed in the State. Persons must occupy
buildings and business must be done in buildings, and through these
visible instrumentalities capital can be reached by a rule of
fractional uniformity, and by a simple, plain, and economical method
of assessment and collection.
[Footnote 13: Massachusetts Report, p. 106.]
This building-occupancy tax, or tax on rental value, does not preclude
a supplementary tax on corporations.
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