86 
THE A B C OF TAXATION 
who want every good thing that is made (and are 
able to have it) the better it is for trade. Thus, an 
equitable distribution of wealth is a vital requisite in 
the case. 
Make taxation equal, impartial, “reasonable” to 
the poor man, “proportionate” to the rich man, and 
the distribution of wealth will then be as equal as 
justice can make it, for it will be in proportion to the 
skill and industry of the hands and brains producing 
that wealth. “ Equal opportunities for all, and special 
privileges to none.” The equitable ideal is to-day 
unrealised because, while a comparatively equitable 
distribution of a portion of wealth is going on through 
the one universal channel of wages, congestion of 
wealth is constantly occurring through the second 
and only remaining channel, the channel of special 
privilege, which is invariably a privilege of the private 
appropriation of ground rent, always and wholly a 
social product. 
The single tax aim is, on the one hand, to widen the 
channel of wages by opening the way to equal opportu 
nities, and by increasing the purchasing power of wages 
through reduction of prices, and on the other hand, 
to narrow the channel of special privilege by making 
the man who has this privilege pay a tax proportioned 
to his privileges. 
Another Illustration 
The St. Paul’s Church property on Tremont Street, 
Boston, standing between two large stores (Fig. XVI), 
furnishes another good illustration of what we have 
been saying and reiterating. 
Less than ten years ago $1,500,000 was offered for