Ownership for All The Liberal Party's report on " Ownership
for All " deserves closer study than it will perhaps receive at such a moment as this. It represents one more effort by the Party to show that Liberalism still has a political programme which distinguishes it sharply from Conservatism and Socialism ; and the attempt succeeds. Thus, as against Conservatives, the Liberals demand a return to Free Trade and an attack on " monopoly "—a term which is extended to cover tariffs, marketing acts, holding companies, road-transport regulations. As against Socialists they insist on the extension of private property and the encouragement of individual initiative. But perhaps the most interesting of the report's proposals is one which is likely to command Socialist sympathy and have prospects of one day being given legislative force. The report's concern with gross inequalities in wealth, such as exist today, has necessarily led to an enquiry into and attack on inheritance, as the greatest cause of inequality and the greatest single factor affecting the distribution of property. The report suggests that death duties should be graduated, with a view to encouraging a wider distribution of property, according not to the site of estates but to the size of bequests and should also take into account the wealth of beneficiaries. So far death duties have not yet produced any great changes in the distribution of property ; anything which is calculated to give them this effect should have the support not only of Liberals but of all who believe in the greatest possible degree of economic equality.
* * * *
Previous page
