The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1871-02-20
Yifr,ntond nispatth:., \.
,-n.v FEBRUARY 20, 1871.
Taxation.

ct,se commission was recently af'pouh.
-, l., New York for inquiring into, ana
s CIV improvements In, the system OF
tsyatiop of that State. At the head OF this
commission stands Mr.. d. A. W ELLIS, once
commissioner in the Revenue Department
If the Federal Government. His frankness
caused the Congress-whichh has no affection
for frankuess--to get rid OF him by aboiish-
ING his Office. He Is very accomplished
s,stician, aud the report of the State COM
mission of New York, of which he IS the
head, will probably attract much attention.
since it proposes radical changes in the syS-
tenn of taxation.
The purport of this report is the recon-
mendation to do away in great part WIN
taxation on personal property. We find
the arguments of Mr.. WELLS very sueeinetly
and clearly stated by the New York World.
Commercial communities will be much in
terested In them. The subject Of taxation
is always the more vexed as the amount to
be raised Is increased. Mr.. WEISS argu-
ments are very logical, but will not please
the rural districts, which will be sure to
favor the tax on personal property so largely
owned in the cities, under the belief that If
that is exempt the burden falling upon the
country will be increased but Mr.. WELLS
replies to these by referring to the increased
demand for the products of tillage growing
out of the prosperity of cities, which is ac-
CELEBRATED, he contends, by eXempting capl-
tai. as 1t will stay longest where it is least
burthened and most thrifty. We quote the
Worlds analysis of Mr.. WEISS views:
"The first impulse Of every man would
be to say that the public burdens should be
equally distributed, every person paying in
proportion to his ability or, in other
words, in proportion to the amount OF his
property which the law protects. But this
ready conclusion Of an instructive sense OF
Justice leaves out of view two important
facts-frst, that personal property can
easily be concealed and the tax eyaded !;
and, secondly, that it can easily migrate
from places where taxes are heavy to other
places where they are light, or where per-
soDal property is exempt. If some persons
evade and others pay taxes on their perso
nal property there is destruction of that
equity which ought to prevail in every sys-
tenn of taxation. If active capital is driven
away by taxation it is killing the fowl that
lays the golden eggs.
"Why are land and buildings more valua.
BILE in one location than in another: Sim
ply and solely because there is more per-
sonal property actively employed in the
locations where real property is the highest.
Danish from the city of New York its per-
sonal property, remove the stocks of goods
from its stores and warehouses, take away
the machinery employed in its manutac-
lures, and city lots and the buildings which
stand on them would be utterly worthless.
Land in Westchester county, instead OF
selling for three or four thousand dollars an
acre, would hardly bring fifty. Farms in
the State of New York would be worth no
more than farms in the western States the
superior value of New York farms depend
ing on their proximity to q great market
which takes all their produce at nigh prices.
There is not a rural village in the United
States in and around which the value OF
real estate would not be doubled or quad
rupled by making it an important seat OF
manufactures or trade.
To abolish taxes on personal property
is to invite personal property to the place
of exemption, and thereby increase the
value of real estate out Of all proportion to
the additional burdens which fall upon IL
BY taxation. Interest and the love Of gain
impel the owners of personal property To
keep it actively employed, thus touching
the nerves of trade and industry, raising
rents, supplying market for agriculture,
and diffusing prosperity over the whole re-
eion wherein capital, which feeds labor, is
Supporting the productive enterprises by
which capital makes profits. Nor Is it quite
true that il taxation of personal property
were abolished the owner of the store would
pay the whole tax and the owner of the
goods none. The real estate owner is more
than reimbursed in the great addition
which active and prosperous business
share Of the tax from his tenants