RENT TAX CANNOT BE SHIFTED 35 
“The incidence of the ground tax, in other words, is on the 
landlord. He has no means of shifting it; for, if the tax were 
to be suddenly abolished, he would nevertheless be able to 
e xtort the same rent, since the ground rent is fixed solely by 
the demand of the occupiers. The tax simply diminishes his 
Profits.”—E. R. A. Seligrnan, “Incidence of Taxation,” pp. 
245. 
“If land is taxed according to its pure rent, virtually all writers 
since Ricardo agree that the tax will fall wholly on the land- 
owner, and that it cannot be shifted to any other class, whether 
tenant-farmer or consumer. . . . The point is so 
universally accepted as to require no further discussion. . . . 
A permanent tax on rent is thus not shifted to the consumer, nor 
does it rest on the landowner who has bought since the tax 
w as imposed.”—E. R. A. Seltgman, “Incidence of Taxation,” 
PP- 222, 223. 
“With these assumptions, it is quite clear that the tax on 
economic rent cannot be transferred to the consumer of the 
Produce, owing to the competition of the marginal land that 
Pays no rent, and therefore no tax, nor to the farmer, since 
competition leaves him only ordinary profits. 
The amount of each particular rental depends upon units 
°f surplus produced (varying to any extent according to the 
superior natural conditions), and on the marginal price, which 
■s independent of these superior conditions, and accordingly, 
a tax that strikes the surplus only, remains where it first falls.” 
Nicholson, “Principles of Political Economy,” Book V., 
Chapter XL, Sections I and 4.