4

THE  A  B  C  OF  TAXATION

ferries,  churches,  public  schools,  private  schools,  colleges,  universities, ­
  public  buildings—utilities  which  depend  for  their
efficiency  and  economy  on  the  character  of  the  government;
which  collectively  constitute  the  economic  and  social  advantages ­
  of  the  land  independent  of  any  quality  or  content  of
the  ground  or  land  itself,  and  which  are  due  to  the  presence
and  activity  of  population,  and  are  inseparable  therefrom,
including  the  benefit  of  proximity  to,  and  command  of,  facilities ­
  for  commerce  and  communication  with  the  world—an
artificial  value  created  primarily  through  public  expenditure
of  taxes.  For  the  sake  of  brevity,  the  substance  of  this  definition ­
  may  be  conveniently  expressed  as  the  value  of  “proximity.” ­
  It  is  ordinarily  measured  by  interest  on  investment
plus  taxes.
II.—The  Nature  of  Ground  Rent
As  defined  by  Mr.  Shearman,  ground  rent  is,  in  its
nature,  "  a  tribute  which  natural  laws  levy  upon  every
occupant  of  land  as  the  market  price  of  all  the  social  as
well  as  natural  advantages  appertaining  to  that  land,
including  necessarily  his  just  share  of  the  cost  of
government.”  It  is  found  operative  in  every  civilized
country,  automatically  collecting  “from  every  citizen
an  amount  almost  exactly  proportionate  to  the  fair
and  full  market  value  of  the  benefits  which  he  derives
from  the  government  under  which  he  lives  and  the
society  which  surrounds  him.”  It  is  a  tribute,  “a  tax
just,  equal,  full,  fair,  paid  for  full  value  received.”
“It  is  not  merely  a  tax  which  justice  allows;  it  is  one
which  justice  demands.  It  is  not  merely  one  which
ought  to  be  collected;  it  is  one  which  infallibly  will
be  and  is  collected.  It  is  not  merely  one  which  the
State  ought  to  see  collected;  it  is  one  which,  in  the