THE SINGLE TAX.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XI, Issue 3417, 24 January 1890, Page 2

THE SINGLE TAX.

Mr Pharazyu publishes the follow.; ing letter in the New Zealand Tiink Sir,—l have read with much intore^t. tba report of a meeting at Petono op tbis subject. Having bad the ■ pleaaV.. ure of hearing Henry George Bpeak, • in London,•l oan say tbattho speakers l of Petone are deeiples of. whom be would be proud, and they, are evidently actuated by the fame, high desire to do good as influences their great, leader. I recognise in their speeohes a great deal of his remarkable logioal ability, and that they share with him in the great privilege of being,intimately, rand being honestly guided by the! will of Providence, or as Mr Shine mora forcibly put it, " of Almighty God," ■' Of course those who Btart with suoh knowledge have an enormouß advantage over ordinary mortals, as oan but worship at their foot. I confess. I, with many others, have 1 hitherto looked at this single tax with bus. picibn, aud perhaps a little tendency to ridicule, but the Petone arguments are conclusive. I am.|couverted,; so, , fur at all events as to be quite content to see the experiment tried. But then, how canny it is to force human nature to acotpt any proposal which has the character of shedding his brother's Wood, sav. ing his own. I have tried to look at the matter apart from self-instinot, but' I;,fear f can hardly, be. truly : impartial when I am asked to agree to taxation being shifted from my shoulder to that of others, Certainly, it Beems unjust, : and a oompleto reversal of tholaw by which taxation should be imposed in proportion to i the ability to bear it, but we are not now dealing with more human ideas of justice, but rather with Divine, as revealed by Henry George and Co, HavaWnotin'supporfc of this the parablo of the talenta, showing that it is just that "to him that hath shall be given," &0,, &0.,; in other words, that "the rioh shall become richer, and the poor poorer."- I am aware that tbis, is not tho end aimed at by advocates of the single tax, but as it will be tho inevitable result,,: they must bo held responsible for it, To illustrate what will happen, take the case of A, holding a valuable improved property' bringing in a large income, and in fact, a wealthy man; B, a poor struggling matiH'tftli ' adjoining pioperty of same area, 1 whioh he is doing his best to improve : by his industry • and that' of lii's .family.,, Under the present unjust (?) property tax A. probably pays fully twenty times as much as 8., and can well afford to. dp, go. This is to. be altered arid, A. and B. aro to pay the same. The tax must ! obviously be a heavy one to'rai6e.tba. * , revenue required. Time goes on, A quietly pockets •land''--invests the amount ho would have had to pay yearly under the property tax, till with compound interest it amounts to a nice sum.. B struggles on bfavelyjT with his burthen added to largely by"' the increased taxation, till,, the i. time comes wheH:he is has watched him as spider watches a fly, ;attendsaforced'saleand buys u'plihis property/very probably with tbei'und | which he has accumulated from savjings in taxations. Tha price at whioh .he buy's is of-course'deofeased'tolthe ! extent of the capitalised value of tho 1 taxation' imjidafidj B& th'kt He Ms enabled both to save the money required :'and to purchase cheaply, 1 and poor B j'ia the only sufferer. Speaking gene?'

I H/ of tho landholders of New '/><&■ Rid, tho cases of A and B aro' tho lule rather than tho exob'ption, [and • under the proposed systoni our A will swallow up many B'b, Mid so therioh will become. richer land the poor poorer.. As things pro, this proces3 is molancholy enough; but B of ton saves some[thing out of tho wreck to inako a Kesh start with, Under tho" single lax" this something will become nothing, and B a paupor, In my • > unconverted days I should have \ . iought this hard and unjust, hut J fijw my opaned. I seo that ( human ideas of justice are not as tho Divine-as understood by taxists It did appear that wise legislation should aim to mitigato, rather that to ag'grayato tho hard, tendencies of 'economics, but this is evidently wrong, and as a convtrted one, I must join with my leaders in introducing a system by which wo can all work together to tho ono great end of crushing them who, from errors of judgment, or other causcß, have been unfortunate or unsuccessful. I confess '•bjoj* old Adam" in me rebels at this • Jp and I should prefer tho formal . ,H> of justice to all, but duty before tiland wo must follow our leaders, sou- shall bo happy to attend the next meeting and advocate single tax views on tho grounds here expluined. I am, &c, CIUKLES PIIAJAOT. Longwood, January 20,