large estates.
The very rich can give away a large portion of their property before death
without material suffering. Only the moderately wealthy are obliged to
hold on to their possessions until death. Any wealthy man can dispose of
his wealth during his lifetime, and still retain its income, by giving it
away, subject to an annuity. To prevent this the law would have to be
extended with intricate inspection to cover all transfers of property. Let
no one be deceived into feeling that this is a simple and easy way of
saddling government expenses upon the rich.

_Special taxes._--A multitude of minor devices are worthy of brief
consideration. An occupation tax on business men is easily levied, but
bears unequally upon the original payers, and in the end falls most
heavily upon the poorest. A house tax, measured by the number of rooms, or
the number of windows, or the number of fireplaces, has been supposed
adjustable to actual income of the possessors. But it bears very heavily
upon men in certain professions requiring house-room, and forces the poor
into narrow and crowded quarters. The rent of the poor is necessarily a
larger proportion of their living expenses than that of the well-to-do. It
is a serious hardship when a tax is levied upon that which a man cannot
possibly save.

A tax upon retail dealers and peddlers is frequently advocated, as tending
to prevent the increase of unnecessary middlemen and wasteful competition.
Yet this, too, bears heavily upon the poor, since it crowds out also those
who are satisfied with small profits and deal in small sales. Even a tax
upon pawnbrokers, whose profits are supposed to be extraordinary, gives
occasion for a sharper grinding of the poor. A study of all these devices
will lead one to the conclusion that a tax upon property only, based upon
a fair valuation and paid by the controller of the property, is fairest to
the whole community and leads to truest conceptions of the relation of
property to public expenditure. It is certainly best for rural welfare.

_A single land tax._--A brief consideration must be given to a proposed
system of taxation, commonly known as the single land tax. The proposition
is to tax all lands, including building sites, to such an extent as may be
necessary to meet all public expenditures. The lands are to be valued for
this purpose at the rent they will bring, independent of all improvements.
The supposition is that such an income is due entirel