And that is robbery, that is plunder, that is communism and spoliation, that is the social revolution at last, that is the overturn of civilised society, that is the end of the world foretold in the Apocalypse!  Such is the increment tax about which so much chatter and outcry are raised at the present time, and upon which I will say that no more fair, considerate, or salutary proposal for taxation has ever been made in the House of Commons.

But there is another proposal concerning land values which is not less important.  I mean the tax on the capital value of undeveloped urban or suburban land.  The income derived from land and its rateable value under the present law depend upon the use to which the land is put.  In consequence, income and rateable value are not always true or complete measures of the value of the land.  Take the case to which I have already referred, of the man who keeps a large plot in or near a growing town idle for years, while it is “ripening”—­that is to say, while it is rising in price through the exertions of the surrounding community and the need of that community for more room to live.  Take that case.  I daresay you have formed your own opinion upon it.  Mr. Balfour, Lord Lansdowne, and the Conservative Party generally, think that that is an admirable arrangement.  They speak of the profits of the land monopolist, as if they were the fruits of thrift and industry and a pleasing example for the poorer classes to imitate.  We do not take that view of the process.  We think it is a dog-in-the-manger game.  We see the evil, we see the imposture upon the public, and we see the consequences in crowded slums, in hampered commerce, in distorted or restricted development, and in congested centres of population, and we say here and now to the land monopolist who is holding up his land—­and the pity is, it was not said before—­you shall judge for yourselves whether it is a fair offer or not—­we say to the land monopolist:  “This property of yours might be put to immediate use with general advantage.  It is at this minute saleable in the market at ten times the value at which it is rated.  If you choose to keep it idle in the expectation of still further unearned increment, then at least you shall be taxed at the true selling value in the meanwhile.”  And the Budget proposes a tax of a halfpenny in the pound on the capital value of all such land; that is to say, a tax which is a little less in equivalent, than the income-tax would be upon the property, if the property were fully developed.

That is the second main proposal of the Budget with regard to the land; and its effects will be, first, to raise an expanding revenue for the needs of the State; secondly that, half the proceeds of this tax, as well as of the other land taxes, will go to the municipalities and local authorities generally to relieve rates; thirdly, the effect will be, as we believe, to bring land into the market, and thus somewhat cheapen the price at which land is obtainable for every object, public and private.  By so doing we shall liberate new springs of enterprise and industry, we shall stimulate building, relieve overcrowding, and promote employment.