The Economy of Local Rates 195 
certain that a flat rate on annual value for beneficial 
purposes will favour urban at the expense of agricul- 
tural interests, that is, the agrarian will calculate, 
and calculate justly, that he is paying for more than 
he gets, while those interested in buildings are paying 
for iess than they get. In such districts, therefore, a 
considerable differentiation in favour of agricultural 
land seems likely to promote harmony of interest. 
On the other hand, where agricultural land lies within 
a rating area in which there is a growing town, though 
a flat rate will make the occupier feel that he pays 
more than he gets (which he will remember in 
bargaining with his landlord), it will very probably 
unduly favour the owner. The existence of the land, 
combined with the probability of its being built over 
at some future time, should cause the local authority 
to spend more money than would otherwise be spent 
in widening the old highways, in buying land for 
sewage disposal, in building large main sewers, and in 
making other provision for the future. This capital 
expenditure will doubtless be defrayed from loans only 
slowly repaid, a fact which increases the share that 
the owner of the agricultural land is likely to bear in 
the long run; but even allowing for this, there can be 
little doubt that he is likely to “ get off too cheaply,” 
which means that the other ratepayers, if they under- 
stand the position, will feel that they are being rated 
for his benefit, and will consequently be inclined not 
to spend as much as ought to be spent in providing 
for the future development of the town. A solution 
of the difficulty might perhaps be found in main- 
taining the present rebate in favour of agricultural 
land so far as the ordinary rate paid by the occupier