At the risk of some little repetition, it may be well to endeavour to make the Single Tax method clearer by comparing its provisions with those of a now familiar standard, the Ballance Land Tax Act of 1891:

The Single Tax	The Balance Tax
1. Would not be levied upon any improvements, however large they might be.	Is levied upon all improvements which exceed £3,000 in value.
2. Would be levied at a uniform rate, and without exemption, upon all properties, irrespective of size.	Is not levied at all upon any owner possessing less than £500 worth of land. A similar amount is deducted from all owners possessing less than £1,500 worth of land. A progressively lessening deduction is made between £1,500 and £2,500, till at the latter figure the deduction becomes nil. Note.—The last item states that no deduction is allowed to owners of more than £2,500 worth, and the next one states that no graduation is imposed until £5,000 is reached. It is worth noting that between these limits (provided the improvements do not reach £3,000) all properties are taxed upon precisely the same assessment basis as that which the Single Taxers propose, viz.: 1. No tax on improvements. 2. No exemption. 3. No graduation. 4. And no absentee tax. Upon values above £5,000 the graduated tax is imposed. Above £30,000 the two taxes rise to 50 per cent, above the penny tax. Above £90,000 they amount to double. The increase then goes on until it reaches 2¾ times as much.page 9
3. Would treat the mortgagee in precisely the same way as the owner, i.e., it would consider him as being part owner of the improvements as well as of the land.	In estates under £5,000 it falls upon the mortgagee, as if his money was lent upon the land only, and not upon the improvements.
4. Would fall upon the land of the absentee owner at the same rate as on that of a resident. Note.—While this is so, the absentee would derive very little benefit from the remission of other taxes. The Single Tax would therefore act automatically and equitably, to the benefit of those owners who throw in their lot entirely with the colony.	The graduated tax is imposed upon an owner "absent from or resident out of the colony for a period of three years or over," with an arbitrary addition of 20 per cent.