Progress and Poverty · Chapter
II: As to Ease and Cheapness of Collection explained
This chapter argues that a tax on land values is the easiest and cheapest tax to collect, as land cannot be hidden or moved and its value is easily assessed.
What happens
This chapter argues that a tax on land values is the easiest and cheapest tax to collect, as land cannot be hidden or moved and its value is easily assessed. It contrasts this with other taxes that increase prices and are shifted through the economy, ultimately costing consumers more than the government receives. The tax on land values does not affect supply and thus cannot be passed on to tenants, making it uniquely efficient.
Themes in this chapter
The Single Tax on Land Values
The chapter advocates for substituting all other taxes with a single tax on land values, emphasizing its ease of collection and economic efficiency.
Distribution of Wealth
Discusses how taxes on land values do not increase prices or shift burdens, contrasting with other taxes that ultimately fall on consumers and increase inequality.
Key passages
“For land cannot be hidden or carried off; its value can be readily ascertained, and the assessment once made, nothing but a receiver is required for collection.”
Land is immovable and its value is easy to determine, so after assessment, only a collector is needed to gather the tax.
Highlights the administrative simplicity of a land value tax.
“A tax on land values does not add to prices, and is thus paid directly by the persons on whom it falls; whereas, all taxes upon things of unfixed quantity increase prices, and in the course of exchange are shifted from seller to buyer, increasing as they go.”
A land value tax is paid directly by landowners without raising prices, but taxes on goods or services get passed along the supply chain, growing larger at each step.
Contrasts the economic impact of land taxes versus other taxes.