The single tax: activities

Activities

1. Henry George on the Single Tax

Here is an excverpt from a speech by Henry George, entitled "The Single Tax: What It Is and Why We Urge It."

If we tax houses, there will be fewer and poorer houses; if we tax machinery, there will be less machinery; if we tax trade, there will be less trade; if we tax capital, there will be less capital; if we tax savings, there will be less savings. All the taxes therefore that we should abolish are those that repress industry and lessen wealth. But if we tax land values, there will be no less land.
On the contrary, the taxation of land values has the effect of lamking land more easily available by industry, since it makes it more difficult for owners of valuable land which they themselves do not care to use to hold it idle for a large future price. While the abolition of taxes on labor and the products of labor would free the active element of production, the taking of land values by taxation would free the passive element by destroying speculative land values and preventing the holding out of use of land needed for use. If anyone will but look around the world today and see the unused or but half used land, the idle labor, the unemployed or poorly employed capital, he would get some idea how enormous would be the production of wealth were all the forces of production free to engage.

Please answer the following questions.

According to George, what is the effect of taxing labor and production? Do you agree?
What is the effect of taxing land values?
If land values were collected in taxation, what practice would be discouraged? How would this affect the production of wealth?
Do you think the Single Tax would help or hurt the farmer? Explain your answer.

2. Grading Taxes

In the reading for this lesson, we learned that the Classical Economists rated the suitability of a tax policy on four criteria. In the table below, rate each form of taxation with a letter grade, A through F. Then assign an overall grade to each.

	Light on production	Easy to collect	Equitable	Predictable	Overall Grade
Social Security Tax	.	.	.	.	.
Gasoline Tax	.	.	.	.	.
Sales Tax	.	.	.	.	.
Land Value Tax	.	.	.	.	.
Import Tariff	.	.	.	.	.

3. Taxes as incentives

Here are five hypothetical situations regarding tax policy. Divide into groups of three or four, and have each group predict as many probable outcomes of the policy as it can. Afterward, the whole group should discuss their various predictions.

The United States increases the income tax by 25% for all income groups. How might people respond?
Your state raises the fee for a driver's license to $500 per person. How might people respond?
To deal with daily rush-hour gridlock, your state imposes a toll of $3 per car during peak-traffic times in the morning and evening. Car owners who have paid in advance for the "whooshie-stripe system" can drive through at full speed, having machines debit their bank accounts. Other drivers must pay at conventional toll booths. How might people respond?
The Federal government abolishes the Social Security tax, and announces that from this day forward, workers will be responsible for their own retirement income. How might people respond?
Your state announces a large increase in the state sales tax, the revenue from which will be used to fund public schools. How might people respond?