34
THE A B C OF TAXATION
“A taxon rent would affect rent only; it would fall wholly on
landlords, and could not be shifted. The landlord could not
raise his rent, because he would have unaltered the difference
between the produce obtained from the least productive land in
cultivation, and that obtained from land of every other quality.”
—Ricardo, “Principles of Political Economy and Taxation,”
Chapter X., Section 62.
“A tax on rents falls wholly on the landlord. There are no
means by which he can shift the burden upon any one else.
. . . A tax on rent, therefore, has no effect other than its
obvious one. It merely takes so much from the landlord and
transfers it to the State.”—“John Stuart Mill, “Principles of
Political Economy,” Book V., Chapter III., Section 2.
“The power of transferring a tax from the person who actually
pays it to some other person varies with the object taxed. A
tax on rents cannot be transferred. A tax on commodities is
always transferred to the consumer.” — Thorold Rogers,
“Political Economy,” 2nd edition, Chapter XXI., p. 285.
“A land tax levied in proportion to the rent of land, and
varying with every variation of rents . . . will fall wholly
on the landlords.”—“Walker, “Political Economy,” edition of
j88j, p. 41J, quoting Ricardo approvingly.
“A tax laid upon rent is borne solely by the owner of land.”
—Bascom, Trealise, p. IjQ.
“Some of the early German writers on public finance, such as
Sartorius, Hoffman, and Murhard, went so far as to declare
that, because of this capitalisation, a land tax is no tax at all.
Since it acts as a rent charge capitalised in the decreased value
of the land, they argue, a land tax involves a confiscation of the
property of the original owner. On the other hand, since the
future possessors would otherwise go scot free, it becomes
necessary to levy some other kind of a tax on them.”—E. R. A.
Sehgman, “Incidence of Taxation,” p. Ijg.
