Manawatu Herald. TUESDAY, JULY 19, 1892. "The Unearned Increment."

Manawatu Herald, 19 July 1892, Page 2

Manawatu Herald. TUESDAY, JULY 19, 1892. "The Unearned Increment."

Now that the policy bills of the Government are corning on for discussion in the House and especially when the Land and Income tax is under review we may expect to hear the old familiar phrases rolled out with the usual remark"'- 1 J ,« hw ,.. _— g«6 these \?e always notice " tile unearned increment *' bobs lip serenely with or without the least provocation. It is marvellous now phrases such as this catch on simply through frequent repetition. The " unearned increment" theory, means neither more nor less than confiscation. Under this theory all increase in the value of land jfroni any cause whatever outside of the owner's own exertiong ought to belong to the state, not to the individual owner ; and this is the view of Henry George and his followers, including the Hon. John Ballance and Sir Robert Stout. We have never yet been able to find anywhere any argument or reason that will hold water to justify this confiscation. Of course we have read and heard ad nauseam the usual commonplaces about land being a monopoly and differing from all other kinds of property and so on. But these are the merest assertions and to be of any value thoge who make them ought to be able to show that land differs from all other forms of property in some way which places it outside of the pale of legal protection. This they cannot do. Just in the same way as land, flax differs from all other kinds of property ; so do rail way shares ;so does timber. These have unearned increments attached to them just as land. They rise or fall in value according to the demand arising, say, from increase of popula-.j tion, or any one of fifty causes out- \ side of the owner's personal exertions. And they are monopolies, just as land is ; that is, their owners can sell them to buyers at the highest market price. If the confiscation of the " unearned increment " of land ever become legalized in this colony, as session after session is threatened by " advanced " spoil tors in the House, it cannot be denied that a very weighty blow will have been struck at the security of private property of every sort.