Page:The fallacy of danger from great wealth.djvu/21

Rh (existing or proposed) and put it into an unwise charity.

It is a wicked waste for a government to take money in taxes from its people (rich or poor) that would be saved and invested if the government uses such money for any but necessary and useful purposes and in the most economical manner. Any and all waste by government is a direct injury to workmen, whether the taxes wasted come from rich or poor.

If taxes are levied on the rich, it is to be presumed that such taxes will be paid out of what may be called their surplus for saving and investment rather than out of that portion of their income which they have been accustomed to spend for personal needs and pleasures. If this presumption is correct, taxes levied on the rich diminish their fund for saving and investment and thus diminish wages. Taxes levied merely to take money from the rich in order to make them poorer (if in these days such taxes are conceivable) would thus diminish the funds which go for wages.

Not all gifts to so-called charity or benevolence are for the benefit of society. As work