_The Socialist Catechism_, p. 3.

[439] Davidson, _The Gospel of the Poor_, p. 54.

[440] See Appendix.

[441] _Justice_, October 19, 1907.

[442] Davidson, _The Democrat's Address_, p. 5.

[443] _Socialism Made Plain_, p. 8.

[444] Davidson, _The Gospel of the Poor_, p. 49.

[445] McLachlan, _Tyranny of Usury_, p. 13.

[446] Davidson, _The Old Order and the New_, p. 76.

[447] _Wealth Makers and Wealth Takers_, p. 1.

[448] Sorge, _Socialism and the Worker_, p. 10.

CHAPTER X

SOCIALIST VIEWS AND PROPOSALS REGARDING TAXATION AND THE NATIONAL
BUDGET

To Socialists taxation is chiefly a means for impoverishing the rich
and the well-to-do. It is their object to transfer by taxation the
wealth from the few to the many, as they believe that the
impoverishment of the rich will mean the enrichment of the poor.
Therefore they do not aim at economy in national and local
expenditure. On the contrary, they wish to spend as much as possible.
As money is to be obtained solely from the rich, "An increase in
national taxation has no terrors for Socialists."[449] Every increase
in expenditure is greeted by them with joy, and wastefulness in
national and local undertakings is rather encouraged than condemned.
"Socialists look to the Budget as a means not only of raising revenue
to meet unavoidable expenditure, but as an instrument for redressing
inequalities in the distribution of wealth."[450] Let us first look
into the financial views of the Socialists, and then into their
positive proposals.

"The purpose of Socialism is to transfer land and industrial capital
to the people. There are two ways in which, simultaneously, this
object may be carried out. The one way is by the municipal and
national appropriation--with such compensation to the existing owners
as the community may think fit to give--of the land and industrial
concerns. The second method is by taxation. Taxation has its special
sphere of usefulness in helping the community to secure some part of
its own by diverting into the national purse portions of the rent,
interest, and profit which now go to keep an idle class in luxury at
the expense of the industrious poor."[451]

"The existence of a rich class, whose riches are the cause of the
poverty of the masses, is the justification for the Socialist demand
that the cost of bettering the condition of the people must be met by
the taxation of the rich. The Socialist's ideas of taxation may be
brie