New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1869-10-02
POLITICAL ECONOMY
ny HORACE GREELEY.
XIX.
TAXATION, DIRECT AND INDIRECT.
XIX.

| must be borne by him who Immediately paws it;
while that which he may charge upon Others is
distinguished as indirect Thus, Duties on Imports
are regarded indirect. because most articles i'm
ported imported for sale. and but small proper
tion-probably not more than per cent.-ars
| bought abroad by those who to use or consume
them in the country to which they are sent On tho
| other hand, not only pOll-tax and an iDconetax,
butany tax on lands other fixed property is held
to be direct, because the owner of lands or houses
cannet add the tax to the price of the property in
selling it; indeed the buyer in estimating the value
of the property is quite at liberty to treat the tax
as an inoumbrance quit-rent and deduct it from
the rental income In estimating the value of ths
estate and fixing the price he will pay for it, con-
form to the popular distinction without inquiring
| into its Justice.
1t has been very generally assumed that Direct
Taxes are preferable to Indirect, in that they
more sensbly felt by the public and thus induce
more vgilant scrutiny of appropriations, expendi-
lures and schemes involving the investment of
| public money Specifically regarded, the truth Of
| this proposition may seem selfevdent. l. however,
accustomed to scrutnize specious congratulations
look smooth plausiblties square in the face-chal-
eDge its correctness and submit summary Of facts
bearing thereon which are quite within the scope
! of current popular observation.
| Tia CITY of New-York is, / think as c0rruptly,
prodig,lly ruled any other twenty square miles OF
the eartAs surfaces if there be an exception, 1T IL
| presented by her gigantic suburb, Brooklyn. Yet
nearly every dollar of the Twenty-odd Millions
nually drawn from her Treasury, mainly for Munioi-
pal uses is derived from her citizens by what is dis
| tingushed as Direct Taxaton-a mere shred Of the
vast aggregate being derived from licenses, market
stands, &C., &c. The personal property of non-resi
| dents may possibly supply tenth of the total.
| though Judge that twentieth would be nearer the
truth the residue is taxed upon lands and structures
at the rate of $50 to $4,000 per lot of Is feet by 1o0
with the buildings, building, part of building
standing thereon. And, as nearly all Of us sleep
under some sort of roofat all events sink to rest
| on some sort of lot-this mode Of Taxation would
seem not only direct but al-embracing. And as all
| adult male citizens legal voters few thousand
negroes excepted, Direct Taxation ought here TO eK-
| hibit its natural fruits
| But. when we look little closer into the matter
we find that our City has not less than One Hundred
| and Twenty-Five Thousand Legal Voters-(to say
| nothing of the ulegal)-of whose names less than
one-fth appear upon her ax-lists. III the vast ma
| jority are made to bear the burden OF Municipal
prodigality it reaches them circutously and I'M
observedy, in the shape of increased rents and en-
HANGED charges for board and lodging that they fail
TO trace the effect to this particular cause. Nay:
| such of them as sharp enough to look into tho
subject at all perceive that, while Rent and Board
1
| is no necessary or lat all events no immediate con
nection between the increase of our Municipal bur
dens and the inevitable cost of living here: that
taxes may be enhanced this year. while rents riseth
next and rice rersa so that the voter does not gen.
orally feel that adding $50 per family to the cost OK
Citys government will add $50 or even - TO the
necessary or probable cost of sheltering and subss
ing his family On the other hand. there are thou
sands who make themselves busy and useful az
| Ward politicians to the dominant power here VINO
shrewdly calculate that, il some Millions more arc
spent per annum in olng and running the Municipai
machine there will be chances for such as they to
receive somewhat of the greasy dripping. Hence, In
several of our Wards mainly owned by non-residens
| and peoped by poor and unthrifty tenants, firmly
| belieye that q candidate for Alderman known to
| belong to the Municipal Ring" and to favor big
things" in the way of street-openng, grading paw
Ing &c. &C., especially if understood further to DO
| liberal to the boys" and ready to give and take
would run better, and be more certain of election.
than one of identical politics but OF oldfashoned
notions of public economy and official responsibility
All this you say, only proves that what is called
Direct Taxation is misnamed. Possibly; but does it
not prove much more than that Does 1t not prove
the distinction between Direct and Indirect Taxation
illusory and non-practcaf An excise or octro duty
of fifty cents per pound on Tobacco would come
straight home to the business and bosoms Of seven
eghths of our voters-would incite them TO iook
sharply about them to see why that tax imposed.
and by what means IT may be abated; whereas an
additional tax of $50 per house would be regarded
by most of them as an affair of the landlords In
which they had but remote If not purely ideal or
sentimental concern. H. them the current discrimi-
nation of Direct from Indirect Taxes be correct,
maintain that those termed Indirect are most likely
70 be felt scrutinized and criticised by the great body
of our people.
OF late some speculative economists have favored
what is called Progressive Taxation-that is, an
exaction of one mill per 800 from all whose taxable
property is valued at less than 81 600; two mills per
500 from those who have $1,000 but less than
$50 three mills from those who have over - 600,
but less than $4,000 four mills 500 from those
who have over $4,000. but less than $4,000 and 30
on until ne who has 81 100000 shall be required to
pay two or three per cent. and he who has slOOOOW
or over O still higher rate. Incidentally, such
system of taxation might prove benefcent, by IN
ducipg great capitalists to divide much OF their
property among their natural heirs without awaiting
the intervention of death. Another inevitable effect
that of inducing majority of the legal voters to
authorize large expenditures for public enterprises
of questionable proft-I could not regard with CON-
nlacency Already the rules that Property must
pay for ell has been pushed beyond its proper linn
itations In our late Civil War, the old-fashoned
conception that citizen as citizen duty To
his country, was very generally repudiated lndi-
yiduals-very many of them-volunteered as
dictate not of choice but of duty, aud many mother
sent her only son to the battlefield when she would
gladly have ransomed him from the service with all
her worldly possessions. The great majority, how
ever of those perfectly willing to fight awaited the