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Taxation Under Marxism versus Georgism
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[A letter to the editor, printed in
the Philadelphia Inquirer, 17 July, 1973] |
A letter July 11 protests that [Karl] Marx had been misquoted in a
previous letter. It is irrelevant whether he said "from everyone
according to his faculties" or "according to his abilities."
The terms are synonymous. The ramification of statements made by
Socialists are not limited to words of Karl Marx but there seems to be
unanimous agreement among them that "taxation should be in
accordance with ability to pay" rather than in "accordance
with benefits received."
This is evidenced in the income tax, particularly that it should be
graduated, so that more is taken from those with higher incomes for
distribution to those with less. That is one form of robbery that should
be abolished. The Sodnlw.1; make no distinction between earned and
unearned incomes.
It is misleading to say that "a man's wage is equal in value to
that which he has produced." In our complex society no man produces
anything atone. All who contribute, from the point of extraction of
natural resources to the finished product, should be compensated in
accordance with the value of the goods and services in the open market.
Lincoln's statement that things produced by labor "of right belong
to those whose labor produced them," refers to the reward to labor
applied to the land as opposed to the extraction of any part of wages
for use of the land. There are three factors in the production of
wealth; land, labor and capital. That part of the product due to
advantages inherent in certain land is "rent"; that to labor
is "wages"; and that to the use of capital is "interest."
Since the earth is the birthright of all mankind, the rent of land
belongs to the people and should be taken by government for equitable
distribution, as in public facilities and services. Wages and interest
should be distributed in accordance with the value of goods and services
under competition in the open market.
The proposal of Henry George was to use the existing machinery of
taxation to take more of the rent of land for public uses and to reduce
or eliminate the burden of taxation now imposed upon the worker and his
capital. The issue is between "Marxism" or "Georgism"
whether we are to be slaves or free men.
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