Land Taxes

The general property tax is primarily a tax upon real estate. In 1926 the total assessment subject to State general property taxes was $142,091,873,725; the assessment of real estate was $108, or 76.2% of the total; the assessment of personal property was $28,548,989,811 or 20.1% of the total. It is impos sible to separate the assessment of land from the assessment of improvements except in a few instances. In New York city in 1927 the land valuations amounted to $6,982,333,754; improvements were assessed at $6,729,074,461. This relative equality between land and improvement values will scarcely be found elsewhere in American cities. In 1926 New York city collected $328,165,996, or 70.5% of its revenues from real estate taxes.

The heavy burden upon real estate has been justified (I) by citing the fact that the major portion of public expenditures inure to the benefit of real property; (2) by advancing the doctrine that land taxes are capitalized so that future purchasers buy land tax free; (3) by advancing the argument that land values are social values the greater share of which belong to the State. Ob jections to the heavy burden on real estate are made by land owners, especially farmers, who cite the fact that these taxes take too large a proportion of income. Other economic groups appear

to be taxed less heavily on an income basis than land-owning classes. Moreover, the general property taxes have been con demned from theoretical and operative standpoints by all Ameri can scholars of public finance.

A

few special land taxes are found in the United States. Minne sota, Montana and Utah, for example, tax mines at rates different from other property. Minnesota taxes farm and urban land at different effective rates. Forests are specially treated in 26 States. The State of Oklahoma has a progressive tax on land based on acreage which has not been enforced. Except for forest taxes, special taxes on land have been opposed in the United States.

BIELIoGRAPHY.—Seligman, Essays in Taxation, loth ed.; Lutz, State Tax Commission; Leland, Classified Property Tax in United States; Haig, Exemption of Improvements from Taxation in Canada and United States; Scheftel, Taxation of Land Value; Reports of State Tax Commissions and Boards of Equalization; Wealth, Debt and Taxation (U.S. Census) ; Proceedings, National Tax Association (annual). (S. E. L.)