The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1867-11-02

According to the most accurate statistics Of
taxes in this republic is greater than is paid In
any other country in the world. Last year the
tax laid by the general government alone
reached the enormous sum of five hundred and
sixty million dollars. But with the taxes Of
the United States, the State, county, city-all
taken together-it is estimated that not less
than one thousand million dollars annually 60
to pay for the poor boon Of bad government
While the national government demands q per-
centage on every mans income-a share in the
profits Of every stroke Of business-and must
be paid for all that we are permitted to eat,
drink or wear, the State government taxes ~
10 an extent never before known; and the
amount Of municipal taxes Ia seen and felt
in the tremendous price Of rents and Of all the
daily necessities Of the people that are bought
and sold in the city. Such is the burden Of
debt resting upon US that one-third Of all the
property owned in the State would barely re-
lieve us. One-third Of every mans property Is
responsible for the indebtedness Of the State
and the nation, and the owner must pay In
taxes the interest on that vast debt Not only
does taxation so onerous not exist anywhere
else, but il was, perhaps, never before known
in the history Of society.
In looking over the tax tables 1t seems bad
enough. As oficially shown IN the Treasury
Department reports, the load that the nation
staggers under naturally appals the thought
Of people that less than decade since was
almost the only one on earth that hardly knew
what taxgatherer was. But what is seen in
the tables, bad as II is, is not the worst The
figures show only what was paid in, only what
found its way to the government Golfers, and
that may have been the smaller part of what
was taken from the people. Taxgatherers
with us are corrupt beyond all possible pre-
cedent Popular opinion hardly makes the
distinction between . revenue officer and Q
thief Stealing in place Is SO common, so gen.
eral, 1t is so much q recognized fact that this
class Of fdnctionary seeks position only to
acquire sudden fortune, that no one of them
any longer feels called upon to deny ii through
any supposed necessity to seem honest From
remote times the taxgatherer was . scoun-
drel, publicans were robbers and the friends
Of robbers, and the Christian text classes "the
pu,e and performance; and those old fellows
stole o measure Of cummin, may be, or a skin
Of wine. Perhaps some fellow OF unusual
boldness here and these may have taken
talent of silver. What pigmies Of plumber !!
Hundreds Of thousands Of dollars make the
small dust In the balance Of our revenue col
lectors, and q place lie hardly worth the in
trigues by which II is gained IL IL does not
promise round million above all contingent
cies for a term.
Do the people clearly understand their posi-
ton in all this Do they appreciate that Of
the vast amount they pay in taxes large
proportion is as unjustly taken as il IL were
taken by the highwayman, and goes not even
to sustain mismanaged government, but to
enrich the corrupt minions Of proaigate
party We may naturally feel certain SYM
patty for the people OF the South, beaten
down, BUNDLED by degrading laws, and denied
all the rights Of freemen, that the niger may
outweigh them in the political scale but the
people OF the State must awake TO the percep-
ton that they have a nearer and more positive
reason than mere sympathy for joining their
voices TO the rebuke that the whole nation IL
uttering against the recently dominant, repub-
lican psrty--the party Of niger supremacy,
the party that has piled up this enormous
burden OF taxes, the party Of unlimited, indis-
criminate robbery in Office. All this terrible
taxation il telling on the material interests Of
our people in the worst way, and thus the
republican party has come to make itself felt
in mems pockets and men must make their
reputation OF such party felt at the polls in
such good round terms as majority Of one
hundred and ify thousand votes against is
candidates nex, Tuesday. Such declaration
the party will understand, but IL will heed no
other. II has got beyond oil fear but that Of
the loss OF powes.