Adam Smith, (1723-1790)

Taxation should (i) bear as lightly as possible on industry (ii) bear equally on all (iii) be easy to assess and collect (iv) be paid by the person on whom it is levied (v) be certain in amount Though the landlord is in all cases the real contributor, the tax is commonly advanced by the tenants, to whom the landlord is obliged to allow it in the payment of the rent. Wealth of Nations, Book 5, Chapter 2 Ground rents are a species of revenue which the owner, in many cases, enjoys without any care or attention of his own. Ground rents are, therefore, perhaps a species of revenue which can best bear to have a peculiar tax imposed upon them. As soon as the land of any country has all become private property, the landlords, like all other men, love to reap where they never sowed. There is no art which one government sooner learns of another than that of draining money from the pockets of the people.