i6

THE  A  B  C  OF  TAXATION

there  is  such  a  thing  as  ground  rent,  and  yet
much  more  in  regard  to  what  is  the  volume  of
ground  rent.  It  has  been  questioned  whether  the
ground  rent  of  the  City  of  Boston,  for  instance,
under  the  single  tax,  with  the  accompanying
shrinkage  in  speculative  values,  would  exceed
to-day  5  per  cent  on  the  assessed  valuation  of
land,  or  $32,000,000.  Indications  are  that  the
net  rent  of  the  land  itself  might  not,  but  our
investigations  are  directed  to  ascertaining  not  the
net,  but  the  gross  ground  rent,  which  is  net  rent
plus  the  taxes.
In  a  systematic  attempt  to  dispel  these  clouds  of
ignorance  and  skepticism—-now  to  be  found  in  surprisingly ­
  high  places—and  to  demonstrate  beyond
a  reasonable  doubt  about  how  much  gross  ground
rent  there  is  in  the  city  of  Boston,  actual  sales  for
the  year  1902  and  actual  rentals  have  been  collected
from  official  sources.
The  figures  for  one  hundred  and  twenty  pieces  of
real  estate*  in  various  sections  of  this  city  have  been
collected  at  no  small  pains  from  official  sources  and
are  offered  in  evidence.  The  following  calculation  is
based  on  these  figures  and  on  the  assumption  that  the
buildings  sold  for  one-third  more  than  their  assessed
valuation,  of  which  assumption  the  landlords  and  the
real  estate  men  are  the  best  judges.  By  this  process
it  is  demonstrated  that  in  place  of  a  net  selling  value  of
four  and  one-half  millions,  there  is  really  a  capitalized
ground  rental  value  of  considerably  more  than  five  and
one-half  millions.
*An  exhibit  of  these  specimen  cases  in  detail  will  be  found  in
Appendix  G.