THE SINGLE TAX.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 934, 24 January 1890, Page 15

THE SINGLE TAX.

TO ygp EpiTOR OF TUB Nl<oV ZEALAND MAip. glß,=r.-I have veac) with mqch interest the report of a meeting at Jfitone on Hiis subject. Having had the pleasure of *-'» Henry George speak, in London, hean.. ‘• v *° speakers at Pi tone are I can say that ... jjroud, disciples of whom he wo- •■‘•-Ha and they are evidently actuated by ... same high desire to do good as influences their great leader. I recognise in their ppeeches a great deal of his remarkable logical ability, and that they share with him in the great privilege of being intimately, and being honestly guided by the will of Providence, or as Mr Shine

more forcibly put it, “of Almighty God.” Hf course those who start with such knowledge have an enormous advantage over ordinary mortals, as can but worship at- their feet. I - confess I, with many others, have hitherto looked at this single tax with suspicion, and perhaps a little tendency to ridicule, but the Pitone arguments are conclusive. lam converted, so far at all events as to be quite content to see the experiment (tried. But then, how canny it is to force human nature to acoep; any proposal which has the character of shedding his brother’s blood, saving his own. I have tried to look at the matter apart from self-instinc’, but I fear I can hardly be truly impartial when lam asked to agree to taxation being shifted from my shoulders lo that of others. Certainly, it seems unjust, and a complete reversal of the law by which taxation should be imposed in proportion to the ability to hear it, but we are not now dealing with mere human ideas of justice, but rather with Dunne, as revealed by Henry George and Co. Have we not in support of this the parable of the talents, showing that it is just that “to him that hath shall be given,” &c., &iJ; ; in otner words, that “ the rich shall become richer, and the poor poorer.” I am aware that this is not the end aimed at by advocates of the single tax, but as it will be the inevitable resuP, they must be held responsible for it. To illustrate what will happen, take the cases of A, holding a valuable improved property bringing in a largo income, and in fact a wealthy man ; B a poor struggling man, with adjoining property of same area, which he is doing his best to improve by his industry and that of his family. Under the present unjust (?) property tax A. probably pays fully twenty times as much as 8., and can well afford to do so. This is to be altered, and A. and B. »re to pay the same. The tax must obviously be a heavy one to raise the revenue requited. Time goes on, A quietly pockets and invesls the amount he would Have had to pay yearly under the property-tax; till with compound interest it amounts to a nice sum. B struggles on bravely,- with. his burthen added to largely by the increased taxation, till the time comes when he is beaten. A, who has watched him as a spider watches a,fly, attends a forced sale and buys up hid property, very probably with the fund which he has accumulated from savings in taxations. The prioe at which he buys is of course decreased to the extent of the capitalised value of the taxation imposed, so that he is enabled both to save the money required, and to purchase cheaply, and poor Bis the only sufferer. Speaking generally of the landholders in New Zealand, the cases of A and B are the rule rather than the exception, and under the proposed system our A will swallow up many'B’s, and so the rich will become richer and the poor poorer. A 3 things are, this process is melancholy enough ; but B often saves something out of the wreck to make a fresh start with. Under the “single tax” this something will become nothing, and B a pauper. In my unconverted days 1 should have thought this hard and unjust, but now my eyes are opened. 1 see that human ideas of justice are not as the Divine—as understood by single taxists. It did appear that wise legislation should aim to mitigate, rather that to aggravate the hard tendencies of economics, but this is evidently wrong, and as a converted one, I must join with my leaders in introducing a system by which we can all work together to the one great end of crushing them who, from errors of judgment, or other causes, have been unfortunate or unsuccessful. I confess the “ old Adam ” in me rebels at this idea, and I should prefer the formal plan of justice to all, but duty before all* and we mu3t follow our leaders, so I shall be happy to attend the next meeting and advocate single tax views on the grounds here explained.—l am, &c., Charles Pharazyn. Longwood, January 20th. t