New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1872-03-10
WHO ARE THE TAXPAYERS E?

1
taxes than other people,. we propose to ex.
anime this question, and see who are the
real taxpayers. We insist, in the first
place, that the people at large pay the
taxes in the exact proportion to the
amount they consume. Who, for instance,
pays the tax on real estate, the owner OF
the tenant? Undoubtedly the tenant !; fol-
if the landlord finds the taxes heavy he
raises his rent, and so himself evades the
payment. In the item of tax on real
estate, then, the rich man who rents one
house to tenant and lives in another
himself pays only the tax on the one he
lives in. If he be merchant, selling i'm
ported goods on which the duty is thirty
per cent, does he not charge his customer
enough extra to get back his thirty per
cent duty and charges:
And SO on through the whole catalogue
of articles, whether of necessity or luxury.
Whatever circumstance enhances the price
of the article, whether it be a national tax
or State tax, or if brought from great
distance, if perishable or fragile in short
anything that adds to the price Of an
article, the ultimate consumer inevitably
| pays that sum, and not the merchant or
dealer The merchant may pay the duty
| into the c,lStomhouse, but he reimburses
himself in the increased price he charges.
1t is the person who purchases from the
importer who pays the duty; and if he be
a country dealer, for instance, does he not
in like manner charge a profit over and
above what he paid for the article, in
Guiding freight, drayage, breakage, vast
age, or damage? Is it not as clear as the
SUI at noon day that the actual consumer is
the real tarpayer' Would it not be sham
if the importers of this city were to pre-
tend that they paid the taxes on imported
goods?' They do as We have stated above,
but they get their money back again.
The same principle holds with every
thing. Every man pays taxes in proper
ton to the amount of his consumption.
The man who consumes the most pays the
most taxes, as a general rule. But it is
not true that because a man is large
property holder, Or owns large amount
of bank stock or merchandise, that lie &C
tually and finally pays any more taxes on
that account No, he has the means of |
shifting the burden upon the consumer,
and never misses a chance either. The |
man who expends five thousand dollars a
year in his family pays more taxes than
the laboring man who only gets thousand.
But does not the man who spends five
thousand year get it out of the laboring
class? The landlord, the merchant. the
trader. the insurance agent the butcher.
the grocer, all find means Of evading the
tax on everything they trade in; they
shift the burden upon their customers.
But the laborng man, the mechanic, all
who live by their labor, have nobody to
shift the burden of taxation upon. They
AN not demand more for their labor; on
he contrary, it is always made the pretext
for giving them less wages.
The laboring classes, whenever subject
70 any direct tax, can not evade it. A
working man, who, by many years of thrift
md economy, has got himself house and
ot, dare not omit to pay the small tax
III it; but the large owner manages by
\ tn OF |
md finally evade the payment of the tax
Then. when number of such men do
his, there is not money enough collected
o meet the expenses Of the government,
whether city Or State. And it is in this
way that, during the last ten years, there
re five millions of taxes due the city of
Iew Orleans, and not collected, and five
Millions more due the State. Then the
leXt step is for lot of these men to buy
newspaper, declaim about the burden of
axation which they don't pay, cry Justify
or REFORM and shed crocodile tears over
he condition Of the working men whom
hey are trying to humbug and to use for
atspaws for their own purposes.
To listen to these gentlemen and note
ow emphatically they talk about being
arge property and ''large tax
ayers one can scarcely help thinking
nat they want to have their say in the
of public affairs in proportion
} their wealth We know full well that
what they mean. but they don't like to
~ so in Just SO many words. But fortu-
asely for the people, this American re-
ublic is not founded upon wealth, but
pom manhood. We know there are to- ,
az in the ranks of these pretended re-
,r,ners men who, if they had the power,
ould circumscribe and limit the suffrage; :
len who would make property one of the ,
onditions of suffrage. But all such
themes are futile. Property, as property,
not entitled to any consideration in the
yes of republican government founded t
pom the rights of man, regardless of his I
ealth. The poorer he is the more pro- l
sctlon he is entitled to at the hands OF |
is fellow-man. Wealth is domineering, |
ad III the main oppressive in its effects, a
nd without representation i'll a govern Z
lent the laboring classes become mere c
ewers Of wood and drawers of water; I
erts, without the power TO elevate them d
lives in society or to leave better state 0
things for their children than they found