Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1873-10-09

| AAAAn0 EEHHO6AL fAkOEEkIX.
The assessment law OF Missouri is a good
deal like ours. AZ least the value of per-
sonalty is based 90 the oath Of the taxpay-
er as here, slthough real estate is leftto the
estimates of the assessor. The st. Louis
Hepabsicon notes some curious dlscrepan-
cies IN the assessment of that county,
which indicate an astonishing amount of
reckless swearing BY somebody. Perhaps
2 Few indictments for perjury would go far
toward refnedyiDg the matter. Certainly
no code Of ethics, legal proceedings, or tax
assessment, depending for efficacy on the
sacrednesso of an oath, can be expected to
work we'll, if men are permitted to swear
like Ananiss and Sap ira with impunity.
Ii is dangerous to society-this tampering
with the sacredness Of an oath because
our whole system of civil and criminal
jurisprudence is based on it. Ii public
opinion win not sustain the strict enforce
ment of the penalties against perjury, in
connection with assessment, it were Infinite
~ better to dispense with the oath than to
debase il into "a mere matter of form, rand
debauch the moral sense of the people.
The ASSESSORS returns for the city of st.
Louis give $l49, 144, 400 of real property
aud only sS1, 184 $50 of personal. Yet the
latest official statements of the St. Louis
banks show capital, surplus and profits of
$20,5S9, $50, and deposits Of So, 0SS ,214-
a total Of S62,677,794. Thus the banks
alone show double the amount of the total
assessment for the city-snd show 1t In the
most vsluable form Of personal property,
i, e., money. The insu rance companies.
show $l5,0O0,O00 more. The capital in |
manufactures, exclusive of real estste,)
supposing it has not increased sincs the |
census Of 1870, gives So, 100000 more. |
There yet remsins an untold amount rep.
resented in merchants capital, railroads,
steamboats,, animals, vehicles, the furniture
and plate Of 10000 houses, etc. The true
value Of the personally of the CITY can.
not be much short Of s2OO,O0o,000, showing
that an amount Of this sors Of property,
greater than the total of real estate, escapes
tsxstion year by year. Its enroIme at on
the assessment books would CIT down the
tax rate about one-half
The same state of facts exista here in a
lesser degree. One of the problems of this
era ef high taxes is to find a remedy that
Will secure some nearer approach 70 jost
and equable distribution Of our public bur-
theirs. 1t is surprising how little attention
has been bestowed upon this subject here.
toiore. 50 long as taxes were light, the VIC
tins hardly noticed the inequality. The
Repi'bticdll suggests that, instead of taxing
property directly, we ought to tax
tbs evidences ofitin the shape of rentals
that is, grade mans taxes on the style he
lives in, taking as a criterion the renta,
OF his residence. Under this plan some
rich mixers might hide their ealth and live
in shabby tenements, but our contemporary /
thinks the number would be few. On the
other hand, a larger number of pretentious
people living above their means would be
taxed above their real wealth. Still tie in
Justice would not be a 1.-THE Of that which
exists under the present system; and if the
effect should be curtailment OF extrgEa.
ssnce, 1t is c0nsummatio on deyoutly TO be
wished. We much fear that until the peo.
pie learn to economist for themselves, they
viii never be able TO teach their govern
nent servants the same important lesson.