124

THE  A  B  C  OF  TAXATION

are  seen  and  known  of  all  men,  he  it  is  who  is  bearing
in  great  degree  the  evaded  burden  of  the  owner  of
stocks  and  bonds.  Such  discrimination  finds  illustration ­
  on  every  hand.  For  instance,  with  the  value  of
the  buildings  and  improvements  of  the  Berkshire,
Mass.,  farmer  far  in  excess  of  the  site  value  of
his  land,  while  in  Boston,  Winter  Street  buildings  have
only  one-thirteenth  the  value  of  Winter  Street  land,  it
is  easily  seen,  as  a  matter  of  simple  proportion,  how  the
taxation  of  buildings  bears  more  than  thirteen  times  as
heavily  on  the  Berkshire  landholder  as  it  does  on  the
Winter  Street  landholder.
In  calculating  the  relief  to  the  farmer  through  the
exemption  of  improvements,  three  classes  of  farmers
are  to  be  considered:  (i)  The  small  farmers;  (2)  the
large  farmers;  (3)  the  bonanza  farmers.  The  buildings
and  improvements  of  the  small  farmer  will  invariably
have  a  much  greater  value  in  proportion  to  his  land
than  those  of  the  large  farmer,  and  greater  still  when
compared  with  the  bonanza  farmer,  so  that  the  same
amount  of  tax  distributed  in  proportion  to  land  alone,
as  compared  with  a  tax  laid  upon  land  and  improvements, ­
  would  relieve  the  small  farmer  just  in  proportion
as  his  improvements  were  a  larger  fractional  part  of
his  total  holding.  Herein  surely  lies  the  only  cure
for  “speculative”  farming  —  i.  e.,  farming  more  land
than  can  be  tilled—and  for  tenant  farming  —  i  e.,
farming  the  farmer.
The  farmer  to-day  is  doubly  discriminated  against,
first  in  the  over-valuation  of  agricultural  land,  and
secondly,  in  the  under  -  valuation  of  urban  or
village  land.  Between  these  upper  and  nether
millstones  he  is  being  ignorantly  ground.  These