, 1874-02-21
TIE SCIENCE OF TAXATION.

1a1anon may DC direct or lndlFect,-leTied OF
! What man owns or on whathe consumes. Will
the exception Of the few 1icense-fees received
by municipalities, our State, county, and munic,
ipal taxes are all collected on tho former sys.
TEN. We make man pay on what he owns. II
is necessary for us, therefore. to find ont what
he Owls. Hence our long army of ta1-eating
ta1-gathere1s. In support OF this system it ia
argued, first, that property ought to pay for
to pay their taxes in the lump, they appreciate
] their amount, 30 that it is impossible for the
ruling power to collect great sum aud waste it.
Experience has shown, however, that tho ruling
| power ia sure to be e1travagant, no matter how
the funds are reised- As long az men can bo
generous with other peoples money, their
charity ia like tho gentle rain that drop
poth down from heaven upon the Just
and the unjust. The argument applied
in the times when irresponsible Kings gave no
account Of the money collected, but the present
systom OF publishing accounts furnishes the
best Of checks on waste, and loses none OF its
efficacy when tho money liable to wnste is col
1ected BY indirect taxation. As for the first
argument, it is no doubt true that property
should pay for the protection it gets, but it is by
no means sure that it would not do this as fully
under indirect as direct taxation. man gen
orally lives in proportion to bis wealth, so that
tux on consumption might bo in reality very
fair tax on property. There are 60 many vaYs
Of eTading assessments, so many Ways OF
getting too low valuations, 80 many notorious
" tax-fghters," that it seems quite probable
that the new system would be no more unfair,
to say the least, than the present one is. How
the present ono works in New York State may be
seen from this extract from Comptroller Hop
kins' report to the Legislature;
In his LAST annual report tbs Comptroller called the
attention Of the Legislature to the defects in the pres
ent Laws for tho assessment and collection Of taxes to
the ne4utable and unjust manner in which they were
imposed upon tha citizens liable to ta1ot1ou, to the
open and unbushng volation Of the Laws by the OIL
GERS on whom the duty Of assessing and levyng taxes
Is imposed, and the pernicious and demoraztug ef-
fects Of tue conceded official perjury which they ap-
nually committed. That the laws Tor the ns-
sessment and collection Of taxes u they exist On the
directions vontcd by the officers whose duty 1t ts to
enforce them, ia too notorious to be denied that II
properly administered they would fail to reach tho
property OF those who think It neither wrong nor dis
honest to avoid bearing their proportion Of tho burden
Of ta1atton Is pap.hle to the du11est intellect that
much Of the property Of the State escapes taxaton
and that taxation is imposed nequably md un;ustly
must be conceded by every one who will take the
trouble OF examining the subject. The wrongs, In
JUSTICE and inequalities of the present system have
for years stared the Legislature full in the face
he adds TINT not more than one-thizd Of tho
taxable property really pays anything:
The two-thfrds escape taxatton and Of thcae two
thirds the great bulk Ia owned aud controlled b rich
men and wealthy capitalists, leaving the burden Of
taxation to be borne BY those In moderate crcuu-
stances, and who are the least able to boar it.
Indirect taxation has these advantages: It !
would reduce the amount OF taxation. It would
make its payment easier. It would save the ne
cessity for official interference with private bust
ness. It would be absolutely fair, 80 far as 1t
went, without chance Of failure. It would do
Away with = horde Of useless officials. The
amount OF taxation would be reduced by nearly
ths present cost Of collection, which Ia about 20