52 
THE A B C OF TAXATION 
tion of ten, twenty, or thirty years hence are very 
slightly discounted to-day. 
Therefore, the assertion that the above programme 
"would visit the whole burden of the reform upon 
present owners ” is erroneous and confusing, especially 
when the burden of a three hundred dollar thirty years’ 
depreciation is offset by an appreciation of perhaps 
more than $1,500 (as is the case in Boston) which 
offset is rightfully a part of the economic situation. 
Many laws, tariff laws among others, do not pretend 
to insure against sporadic cases of possible injustice 
but the universal law remains that, with civilisation, 
the value of land increases. 
(c) The statement of the book on this point comes 
far short of covering the actual condition. The facts 
that the “selling value of land is an untaxed value” 
and that “the burden of a land tax cannot be made to 
survive a change of ownership” have indeed so increased 
the demand for Boston land that in value probably 
more than three-quarters of it is to-day in dead hands 
or in the hands of trustees and syndicates which can 
not die, all of whom refuse to loosen their grip upon 
this “preferred stock” except at exorbitant speculative 
prices which would yield income far under other lines 
of investment.