VALUE  OF  LAND  AN  UNTAXED  VALUE  49

(c)  This  whole  doctrine  overlooks  the  inevitable  consequence ­
  that,  if  “the  selling  value  of  land  is  an  untaxed  value”
and  “if  the  burden  of  a  land  tax  cannot  be  made  to  survive
a  change  of  ownership,”  these  facts  would  so  increase
the  demand  for  land  that  the  profits  from  its  purchase
and  ownership  would  not  exceed  profits  in  other  lines  of
investment.”
Let  us  examine  these  points  one  by  one.
Ca)  It  is,  as  I  understand,  admitted  by  all  economists ­
  that  in  the  United  States  (the  country  now  under
consideration)  the  tax  on  land  is  everywhere  exceedingly ­
  unequal,  and,  especially  in  the  large  cities,  almost
exclusive.
Either  the  capitalisation  of  the  land  tax  is  a  fact  or
it  is  not.  If  it  is  a  fact  it  is,  with  its  corollaries,  the
most  vital  fact  of  all  those  bearing  upon  the  material
Welfare  of  the  race,  and  ought  not  to  be  brushed  aside
m  three  short  unsupported  sentences  like  the  above,
all  of  which  are  substantially  contrary  to  the  mass  of
evidence  assembled  in  these  chapters.
But  the  capitalisation  of  the  land  tax  in  the  United
States  is  a  settled  fact,  and  hence  not  debatable;  a
business  condition  of  every-day  knowledge  in  the  buymg
  and  selling  and  assessment  of  land.  It  is  out  of
the  domain  of  theory,  and  not  dependent  upon  any
abstract  speculation  concerning  an  exclusive  and
unequal  tax.
_  For  the  sake  of  illustration;  First.  Let  it  be  assumed
fbat  there  are  two,  and  only  two,  fields  open  to
myestment,  viz.,  land  paying  5  per  cent  on  purchase
Pnce  and  bonds  paying  5  per  cent  on  purchase  price
(because  either  by  exemption  or  by  evasion  they  esca
 pe  taxation).  What  is  it  that  fixes  the  above  rate