One of the greatest
economists and social philosophers of the past two centuries was Henry
George. Here is one of my favorite passages from the great author. It
was written more than 100 years ago, but it has great relevance to today’s
political debate:
“Taxes operate upon energy
and industry, and skill and thrift, like a fine upon those qualities.
If I have worked harder and built myself a good house while you have
been contented to live in a hovel, the tax gatherer now comes annually
to make me pay a penalty for my energy and industry, by taxing me more
than you. If I have saved while you wasted, I am taxed, while you are
exempt. If a man builds a ship, we make him pay for his industry as
though he has done injury to the state; if a railroad be opened, down
comes the tax collector upon it, as though it were a public nuisance;
if a factory be erected, we levy upon it an annual sum that would go
far toward making a handsome profit."
“We say we want capital,
but if anyone accumulates it, we charge him for it as though we were
giving him a privilege. We punish with a tax the man who covers barren
fields with ripening grain, we fine him who builds machinery or drains
a swamp.”