6o

THE  A  B  C  OF  TAXATION

Street,  is  it  hot  a  fact  that  the  value  of  the  buildings
approximately  equals  or  exceeds  the  value  of  the
land?  Should  not  the  value  of  the  buildings  at  least
keep  s'ome  sort  of  pace  with  the  increasing  value  of
the  land?  It  is  not  asserted  that  Winter  Street  ought
to  have  buildings  worth,  like  the  land,  $97.50  per
square  foot,  but  that  $7.13  per  foot  is  too  low  and
means  a  great  detriment  to  business.
Query.  If  estate  holders  in  their  quest  of  profits
had  been  as  dependent  on  buildings  as  on  land  during
the  past  forty  years,  would  Winter  Street,  the  centre
of  business  and  of  highest  land  values,  ever  have
lacked  building  accommodations  of  a  value  approximating ­
  much  more  closely  to  that  of  the  land  than
has  been  the  case?
Query.  If  the  income  from  the  land  of  Winter
Street,  including  appreciation,  were  no  greater  than
the  income  from  up-to-date  buildings,  would  the
business  of  Winter  Street  tolerate  to-day  its  seventhrate
  accommodations?
Query.  Was  the  land  of  Winter  Street  made  for
the  use  of  business  or  for  the  speculative  profit  of  the
land  owner?*
Is  the  business  of  land  owning  pure  and  simple
deserving  of  so  much  consideration  as  to  merit  encouragement ­
  at  the  expense,  and  to  the  detriment,  of
industry  and  enterprise?  If  not,  is  not  the  present
system  of  exempting  it  from  the  burden  of  taxation
unwise  and  indefensible?
A  modern  eight  story  building  covering  the

*  By  land  owner  is  meant  any  man  in  his  capacity  as  owner  of  land  only,
independently  of  his  capacity  as  owner  of  buildings  and  improvements  or
anything  else.