(1) There are socially created values in labor and (a) The products of labor owe their value to (b) The factory and store would be worthless (c) The business man's profits and the income (d) Houses and all other improvements have as has land. 4. It is unjust to take the increment of land in taxes and not the value of his land. B. It is difficult of assessment, for difficulty of 1. It is often impossible to determine land values exclusive assessment, a. The value of irrigated, cultivated or fertilized land C. It is inelastic, for 1. It cannot be increased, for a. The purpose of the single tax is to take all of the rent of land. 2. The selling value and rental value of land fluctuate and D. It is inadequate, for and inelasticity. It is 1. In many poor communities the rent of land is insufficient inadequate, to meet the expenses of government. E. It will lead to extravagance, for will lead to 1. In many communities there are enormous land values and extrava- 2. The interest of citizens in having government economically a. A majority will pay no taxes. F. Its adoption will necessitate the abolition of revenue taxes, such as the taxes on opium, liquors, tobacco, adulterated foods, etc., and of protective taxes, such as the tariff. III. As a scheme for social and economic reform, the single tax on land values is undesirable, for A. It will result in the confiscation of private property in land, for gance, and will necessitate the aboli tion of revenue taxes. Defects of the single tax as a scheme of social and economic reform. 1. The appropriation by society of the rent and increase in value of land will abolish the selling value of land and constitute the state the universal landlord. B. Confiscation of private property in land is not desirable, for 1. By a process of evolution society has evolved from a state of common or community ownership of land to a state of private ownership of land. 2. Private ownership of land is the basis of our civilization. C. It will result in discouraging the policy of conservation, for 1. A premium will be placed on exploiting natural resources. 2. Timber lands especially will suffer, for a. The timber will have to be cut to pay the taxes, for (1) The land yields no income until the timber is cut. The single tax agitation has rendered many valuable services: it has aided in the reform of our taxation system; it has directed attention to the social effects of taxation; 66. Services rendered by the single tax agitation 1 The majority of economists are agreed that the single tax, as advocated by Henry George, is too radical and drastic a reform ever to find wide acceptance among the American people. Nevertheless, the single tax agitation has performed a number of valuable services, as Dr. Young points out in the following selection: Single taxers have found a ready object of criticism in existing tax methods, and they have not come short of their opportunity to point out faults. In this they have performed a most valuable public service. They have occupied a prominent place in the ranks of tax reformers. So far as destructive criticism goes they have frequently been in close agreement with those having other tax ideals. They have persistently laid bare the theoretical and administrative defects of the general property tax; they have shown the injustice of poll taxes; they have set forth the burdensomeness of federal indirect taxation; they have labored assiduously to relax the rigid tax clauses of state constitutions; and they have worked ardently for the juster and more efficient administration of taxes. Finally, single taxers have directed attention to the social effects of taxation. The principle of using the taxing power as a means of social reform has unquestionably gained a wider acceptance as the result of the single tax agitation. ... 1 From Arthur Nichols Young, The Single Tax Movement in the United States. Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1916; pp. 313, 315, 319. the movement to Another most important way in which the single tax movement it has aided has exerted influence has been in directing attention to the vital importance of the conservation of natural resources. [Single conserve taxers] have actively opposed the efforts which from time to time have natural been made to induce Congress to grant away the remainder of the nation's natural resources to those who covet them without requiring a due return. . . . resources, attention to the problem of poverty. Finally, the American single tax movement has been a powerful and it has force insistently directing attention to the vexed problem of directed poverty. . . . Through the propaganda of Henry George and his followers hundreds of thousands have been led to consider how the condition of mankind may be ameliorated. Never before has the pressing importance of social reform been felt as in the last generation. The most vital message of Henry George's life and work was the urgency of social reform. Whatever the fate of the remedy for which he so earnestly contended, one thing is sure. Henry George made it plain that no true civilization can avoid the duty of finding a means to "extirpate poverty" and "to lighten the burdens of those compelled to toil." Questions on the foregoing Readings 1. Define single tax. 2. Just what is meant by land value? 3. What is the importance of Henry George in the single tax agitation? 5. What, according to George, is the reason for this persistence? 7. What remedy did George propose for the eradication of poverty? 9. Outline briefly the results which George claimed would follow from an application of his remedy." 10. Outline the case in favor of the single tax. 11. What are the chief arguments against the single tax? 12. What, according to Dr. Young, has been the service rendered by the single taxers with regard to taxation reform in this country? 13. What service has the single tax agitation rendered with regard to the social effects of taxation? 14. What has been the service of the single taxers with reference to the conservation of natural resources? 15. Explain how the single tax agitation has performed a valuable service by directing attention to the problem of poverty. CHAPTER XII PROFIT SHARING AND COÖPERATION 67. Profit sharing establishments in the United States 1 of Labor revealed Profit sharing is a device which aims to bind together the employer In 1916 an and employees in a given business. Profit sharing seeks to achieve investigation by the U.S. this aim by distributing among the workmen, in addition to their Department regular wages, a share of those profits which would ordinarily go entirely to the employer. In 1916 the United States Department of Labor undertook a comprehensive survey of profit sharing in this country. In that year sixty establishments had profit-sharing systems, more than two-thirds of which had been in operation less than ten years. Of these sixty profit sharing establishments, thirty-three were manufacturing concerns. The following is the complete list of profit sharing establishments in the United States in 1916, as compiled by the Department of Labor: ESTABLISHMENTS WITH PROFIT-SHARING PLANS IN OPERATION IN 1916 Year sixty profit sharing establishments 1 From the United States Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Profit Sharing in the United States. Washington, 1917; p. 10. |