WHAT DOES MR. GEORGE WANT ?
[TO TEE ETorros OF THE "SPECTATOR"]
'Sin,—In your notice of Mr. George's proposal, I read,—" There is absolutely no hope in the scheme, unless reduced to an ordinary land-tax, which might, no doubt, reduce other taxation, but which, as leaving private property in the soil intact, could be considered by Mr. George too despicable a compromise to discuss." May I, as a member of the Committee of the Land Reform Union, be allowed to say in your valuable journal that this is just the compromise that I hope to see carried out ; and that, so far from its being "too despicable" for Mr. George to discuss, it is what he advocates in "Progress and Poverty," wherein he desires to leave "private property in the soil intact." Let me quote his own words, from Book viii., "Application of the Remedy," chap. ii. :—" I do not propose either to purchase or to confiscate private property in land." "By leaving to landowners a per-centage of rent, which would probably be much less than the cost and loss involved in attempting to rent lands thrJugh State agency, and by making use of this existing machinery, we may, without jar or shock, assert the common right to land by taking rent for public. use." "Now, inasmuch as the taxation of rent, or land values, must necessarily be increased just as we abolish other taxes, we may put the proposition into practical form by proposing to abolish all taxation save that upon land values." I frankly admit there is no doubt that Mr. George would desire the Government to take a larger portion of ground-rent as taxation than you would think well, but the difference is merely one of degree ; and per- sonally I should be willing, and perhaps Mr. George would, too, to accept a "compromise," and see what effect that would have towards removing extreme poverty.—I am, Sir, &c.,
Hatherop, Bournemouth West. ALFRED HOOD,
A Member of the Land Reform Union.
[What is the difference between a tax on income derived from land, and a tax on land ? The income is taxed. It ought, per- haps, to be taxed more heavily because it is heritable, and earned income is not, but then so ought income from Consols. The question is much more complicated than our correspondent supposes, and the amount obtainable much less. Land already bears the local taxes, which rise and rise.—En. Spectator.]
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