THIRD BOSTON OBJECT LESSON 85 
put is squarely upon the shoulders of ground rent, what 
the land is worth for use, its gross annual value. 
Take, for taxation, a portion of ground rent, and you 
have a basis for assessment that is stable, in that it is 
a value not affected by taxation. The selling value, 
or the assessed valuation, is not the shoulders, but 
the rump, or the small of the back, that will “slip the 
yoke,” as the farmers say, as soon as real estate moves. 
By fact and reason we are, not led, but driven, to 
the conclusion that more than 1650,000,000 of capital 
invested in Boston land to-day escapes entirely the 
burden of the tax which is assessed upon capital 
invested in buildings; and the happy landlord of land 
and buildings bears no land tax burden, shifts his 
buildings tax upon his tenant, and thus himself entirely 
escapes the tax burden. This statement is a corollary, 
or consequent, of the accepted economic principle, that 
the selling value of land is reduced by the capitalised 
tax that is laid upon it. 
This view is in literal harmony with the substantial 
agreement of the economists, that the only direct tax 
(with the possible exception of taxes on incomes and 
inheritances) — the tax which cannot be shifted or 
evaded — is a tax, not upon the assessed valuation of 
land, nor upon the selling value of the land, but upon 
ground rent, or its capitalised value, the gross value 
of land. 
Chambers of commerce, merchants’ associations, 
Manufacturers, and dealers are constantly seeking to 
find or make the best and largest market for their 
commodities. The best market, it is fair to say, is the 
largest number of persons who are able to buy the 
^ares they want. The greater the number of people