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Show Tax The Loafer Theoretically, the perfect tax would be a tax on inaction. The proper man to tax would be the loafer, not the work er; idle land, not used land; InaC.ive capital, not active capital; lack of en-terprize, en-terprize, not enterprize. Such a tax would not be practica., but it would be a Just tax. Our present taxes are based on an opposite theory. We tax thrift, action, capital, enterprise. enter-prise. We levy taxes In proportion to abilitv to pay. which means that the harder u man works, the more we tax him; the more thrifty he becomes, the more we soak him; the more efficient he grows, the more we knock him down. If a man saves his money and buys a house, he is taxed; if he wastes his money in extravagent living, he Is not taxed. None of our taxes encourage production pro-duction by the simple process of discouraging dis-couraging Idleness, shiftlessness, Inefficiency. In-efficiency. The devil himself could not do a neater Job of hobbling the race. Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin, Journal. |