THE ECONOMIC QUESTION.

Evening Star, Issue 17086, 3 July 1919, Page 7

THE ECONOMIC QUESTION.

TO THE EOITOR. Sir, —Letters frequently appear in the newspapers on this important question, and various proposals are made for its solution. The proposal to tax out economic rent—that is, the price paid for the use of the land (the bare land as apart from all improvements) —is a very old one. Tt was reduced to practice in Britain more than 500 years ago, and tho .land was administered by the village communes according to the needs of the people, every citizen's right to the use of land being bounded by the rights >of all'others. This economic system worked well. There' was no discontent among the workers. There were no Capital and Labor disputes. Every man got the full reward of his labor. Every laborer working eight hours a day could "earn as much in three months? as would keen himself, his wife, and family 12 months. If you doubt this, I refer you to Professor Thorold Rogers's book 'entitled ' Six Hundred Years, of Work and Wages.' You will also find much interesting information on the same subject in Sir Henry Name's book entitled 'Village Communes.' This is the economic system that Mr E. T. Evans has proposed for New Zealand, and on which he has lectured in various parts of the country during the past 14 years. Many of the politicians say that the .proposal is quite impracticable in countries where the land has been bought, sold, and settled. But it ha* been found very practicable to tax land values in New Zealand. During the last financial year land value contributed upwards of '£1,500.000 to taxation, and in the same year the rates obtained from the unimproved value of land amounted to over £2,000,000. making altogether not far short of £4X00,000. As this has been practicable, it must surely be practicable to take the remainder of the economic rent in rates and taxes, and especially if we give the landowners a quid pro quo in the. reduction of other taxes winch they now bear. This, in my opinion, would give the people their economic freedom, and put an end to all friction between. Capital and Labor. There would be plenty of laud for returned soldiers at an extremely low rent, and they would only need a National Bank to finance them to be perfectly happy. The following would be among the happy results of this simple and very practicable change:—No longer any use for a Labor Department and Labor laws, no work for an Arbitration Court and Conciliation Commissioners, trade unions and their paid otlicials no longer necessary, and the Employers' Association would dissolve—most happy results; and, best of all, tho £1 note would buy twice as much as it does now. Ye housewives, don't forget ibis on election day. The enemies of Labor are all "those who oppose this just economic system. The present system taxes about half the earnings of Labor to add those earnings to the wealth of the rich and well-to-do. —I am, etc., T.W.G. Julv 3.