We have considered two hypothetical transfers of taxes to land. The first we found to be out of the question because it would appropriate the whole of the rent and destroy all private land values. The second would apparently amount to two per cent. of the value of land, and cause land values to depreciate from twenty to forty per cent. It is unnecessary to consider the probable effects of any plan that would involve heavier land taxes than the second; that is, the scheme of imposing all the general property tax on land; for it represents the extreme feasible and fair limit of the movement within, at any rate, the next fifteen or twenty years. Even this degree of tax transference would be unjust to the landowners if it were brought about at once. No social or other considerations exist that would justify a depreciation in land values of from twenty to forty per cent. If, however, the process were extended over a period of, say, twenty years, the decline would be only one or two per cent. annually, which is considerably less than the rate at which farm lands and the land in large cities have risen in value during recent years. Under such an arrangement the great majority of owners would probably find that the depreciation caused by the heavier land taxes, had been more than offset by the upward tendency resulting from the increased demand for land. Nevertheless, there would still be positive losses of the three kinds described a few pages back; namely, to owners who sold land below the price that they had paid for it; to owners who sold vacant land at a price insufficient to cover accumulated interest on the investment; and to owners whose aggregate tax burdens were increased. Some degree of each of these sorts of losses would be due specifically to the new land taxes. As noted above, public compensation in all such cases would be impracticable. Consequently the justification of a law that inflicts such losses must be found, if it exists, in social considerations. _The Social Benefits of the Plan_