time of entering the country; domestic products such as cigars,
spirituous or malt liquors, playing cards, and (at times) matches, pig
iron, and other products, are taxed usually at the time of exit from
the factory. It has already been shown that when the tariff duty
prevents the importation of foreign goods and by raising the price
encourages domestic manufacture of the article, there is virtually
taxation of the consumer to subsidize the private manufacturer. A
system of properly adjusted compensatory duties (tariffs and internal
duties combined) which would prevent tariff duties from having any
prohibitive effect whatever could, in a great country like ours, be
made to produce any revenues desired. Such a system, combined with the
federal income tax, seems destined to be the chief dependence for the
national government.

Sec. 9. #Proposal of the single tax on land values.# Besides the general
property tax there are found in the country as a whole a large number
of special property taxes. Some of these have been introduced as
substitutes for the general property tax; such is the special taxation
(above referred to) of mortgages, and bonds. Other special property
taxes have been introduced because they were believed to be good in
themselves; such are special franchise taxes on corporations and some
kinds of taxes on land.

The special taxation of land, or of land values, has been strongly
urged by Henry George and his followers since the publication of the
remarkable book "Progress and Poverty" in 1879. The doctrine there set
forth is that the state should "appropriate land rent by taxation,"
should "tax land values, irrespective of improvements." It is
maintained that "a single tax" of this kind would be quite sufficient
for all the purposes of government. The main arguments adduced
for this plan may be reduced to three propositions: first, private
property in land is essentially unjust, because land is made by
nature, not by men; second, the plan would make assessment simple and
certain by limiting it to the unimproved land, and making unnecessary
the more difficult assessment both of tangible improvements and of
intangible personal property; and third, it would work a marvelous
reform in social conditions, abolishing poverty and greatly increasing
production.

It is impossible within our limits of space to discuss this proposal
further than to indicate that: (1) It assumes an untenable theory of
property.[4] (