New-York tribune., 1868-05-01
THE T4KIETY
terrOrS.


AS we expected, the City Tax Levy yesterday
went through the Assembly with a rush. That
body did not stop to get a copy of the act-it
had been cooked in Committee, and, after
hasty reading understood by nobody, it was
adopted, by a vote of "a to II. The numbers
are satisfactory; they admonish Gov. Fenton
that yetoes are useless; the thing is fixed, and
his interference is worthless, so far as the
House is concerned. Of course, no one could
imagine that the Yea of to-day would vote
Nay tomorrow, simply because a Governor
does not look through his spectacles. Law
makers never trife III that way; they know
the rights of things, and, once committed, they
insist upon their position. If they say man
is ten feet five inches high, they stick to it
as they did on the Pro-Rata bill.
The little we know of the Tax-Levy is
gathered from report of the Committee
having it in charge. The first effort of this
Committee is to show that the City Govern
ment is not responsible for certain immense
sums We grant it had they been responsible,
the sums would long ago have been trebled.
According to their ciphering, the whole sum to
be raised by tax in this city for the current
year is S25. .505.9si 81, against which there
is an estimated revenue of 49, 10000. We have
never yet cast 10000 votes; the local and
State taxation, therefore, reaches about tlcO
hundred dollars for each voter. The same ratio
for the whole State would raise only One Humid
red and Sixty Millions After this comes the
National tax of five per cent on incomes over
$1,000.
The Committee plead that theslOcal govern
ment is not responsible for the expense of
Police, Health, Poor-House, Education, Central
Park, or Fire Department. They argue that
the sums under these heads, amounting to
Eight Millions, are just so much outrageous
Black Republican tyranny. OF course if Demo
cratic rule should succeed, the Police would
be disbanded, the Board of Health abolished,
Poor-Houses and Asylums emptied, School
Houses shut up and sold, the Fire Department
sent about their business and the Central Park
sold at auction. Such, at least, is the argument
of their elaborate attempt to show that the
city officials are not responsible for our high
taxation. What can these persons mean by
charging our Educational outlay-every cent
expended by officers chosen by our vOters-to
the Statei
Then come county matters, reaching several
millions, OF which the City Government washes
its spotless hands, as if there was the least
difference between n thief as an Alderman
and thief as Supervisor. Of course, they
repudate all State matters, and show that the
city is not even responsible for the interest
upon its debt, isince the debt was authorized
by the Legislature After wrigglng in this
way for time, they cipher down the City
Levy to about Eight and Quarter Millions
tI,o o11
and Gas $1,OOO,00O; rather high, but probably
not very eXtravagant. Judgments, $4,000;
most of which were taken by default, some say
by collusion. Cleaning offices, $9O,0OO-Only
about 100000 too much. Wharves and Slips,
nearly 100000; for which we shall have a
continuation of our filthy, rickety old piers,
and half or three quarters of the money will
be useess--in that line. Battery Enlargement,
Sl26,O0O; for what ?-is some favored contractor
to charge cartmen 12 cents load for the
privilege of dumping rubbish, and then turn
upon the city and charge it dollar per cubic
yard for the filling, as has heretofore been
donei Donations, 100000; of which 70 per
cent is intended for sectarian schools and
churches. Station-houses for Police--(the
Department so odious TO tho Common
indeed-and pray who is to build
twenty new houses, and who
asks for them. Roads, $li3,O usually
considered an electioneering fund for
the Twelfth, Nineteenth, and Twen-
ty-second Wards - half the money
going to the engineers of the bill. Offal depot,
800 900; which, considering that farmers would
gladly pay n handsome price for street rub
bish delivered at any convenient point, is par
ticularly rich; will they fit up the offal depot
with rosewood furniture, rs they have the
unfinished Courthouse Public Charities for
tie Poor, $75,000 which is to say that the
Common Council are jealous of the Commits
sioners of Charity, and mean to have a slice
off that loaf at any rate, by way of cash dona-
tions just before election, for instance Tax
maDs. S60 900 preserving records S500O0-- |