VALUE OF LAND AN UNTAXED VALUE 45
The beauty of this illustration is that (in a classification
which excludes duplication by certificates or
mere legal evidences of property, like stocks, bonds,
etc., and includes only actual tangible property)
While land stands as always for everything except the
products of labour, a house is here made to stand as
the representative of any and all products of individual
labour, that is, for everything except land, and the
illustration thus becomes all inclusive.
If you have had the patience to follow it understanding^
you may rest assured that you have mastered
a basic principle of taxation, and have solved one
of the most perplexing problems of political economy.
What the Authorities Say of The Third Leg of the
Single Tax Tripos, viz.: That the Selling Value
of Land Is an Untaxed Value.
“The land tax, which is next on the list, should equally cause
but little controversy. It is persistently claimed as a burden
Upon land, or land owners; but this will not bear scrutiny when
w e inquire out of whose income the tax is paid, or what way it
causes pressure, so that its reduction or abolition would be a
benefit to the community.
“As a fixed charge upon land for generations, it is now past all
controversy a rent-charge. In many instances it has long since
been redeemed, the property having subsequently changed
bands; in others, inheritors of property have acquired it under
the burden, and have calculated their income minus the tax,
while purchasers, in buying, invariably allow for it. To reduce”
(abolish ?) “it now would be to present the landowners of
England with a capital sum of nearly £30,000,000. Their
estates, relieved of the burden, would become at once so much
u^ote valuable, and if they did not sell, they would pocket an
additional income which they never inherited or paid for.”—Sir
Robert Gijfen, “Essays in Finance ” First Series, p. 242.
