, 1875-02-02

Of taxation then {alld now prevailing there
At tho request Of Gov. HOFFMAN, DAVID A.
WELLS prepared Il scheme for reform. Tho
grossost inequalities havo always existed in
tho assessment and collection of taxes on
personal property. These aro fair1y enough
levied in tho country, wl1ero the local Asses
sor can readily geo Just what furniture, live.
stock, and machinery the farmer owns, but
they aro farco III tho city, where tho As
SCISSOR, unable to poer into privnto accounts
and vaults, and relying on statements whicl,
aro notorionsly incorrect, guesscs Mt the per-
sonalty of each citizen, aud fixes his tax at
figure which In wrong thousand times for
once TINT it happens to be right, Mr.. WELLS
plan WINS, We believe, substantially o. fol-
lows: Tex realty as at present, aud assesa
each mans personally Mt three times tho rent
l,o pays or would pay If he did not
owl his home. This would be but slight,
if any, improvement On the present system.
Men who earn from $2,000 to 4,00O per
year generally do own personally equal to
about thrice the rent they pay, but this pro-
portion does not hold good in the case Of
persons whose incomes are above or below
these limits. Many laboring man pays $12
to SIG q month for his narrow quarters, and
yet does not own the half Of tho $432 to
$s57G worth Of personally for which, under
Mr.. WELLS plan, be would have to pay taxes.
At the other extreme, equal injustice would
bo done, although tile State and not the tax-
pnyer would suffer. a. wealthy man, WHO
pays 81, 900 to $4,000 year for his man
sion, often has personal property, in tho
shape Of tine furniture, books, paintings,
statues, horses and carriages, bonds, stocks,
money, etc, which is worth ten or twonty
tines as much as his rent.
After the submission Of this report and its
rejection by public opinion, there wns lull
in tho ngitation Of the subject. It's discus
sion has now revived. A Committee of the
Legislature is considering ways md means Of
tax-reform. AIr. GEORGE II. ANpnEws, ono
OF the Tax Commissioners OF New York City,
Inns collected for the Committee n number OF
typical cases of the working Of the systom in
the metropolis. We ore indebted to the
Nation for some extracts from his report.
When the personal tax Of tho city showed o
frightful deficit, d catalogue Of ell the men,
bcrs Of the prominent clubs whose names
weru not On tho assessment-list wns pro-
pared It contained 435 names. The
eonmlssloners' "''nous any TURNER n
au'ry' assessed e"ch ot these men Tor 3lo'ooo
worth OF personally ano oemanaea from
them taxes On 1has amount W tha
49, exactly three @ ADMITTED shis liability Tho
Guy got )ase T2oo On LUIS aeeregate asaess-
men1 o1 S4'aoo'oM "a anotneF 'ps'aaco, 3
."an aSsesaca tof 'ss@''ooo worm OF personally
liao TIE assessment caneeleo anu escaped a1l
te&as'on ny swearing snae ne naa' "i'mh q
"eek' converted oil MS personal properly IN
TO United s1atos ponas ti'as ho dau 70 tor
tue SAKE Oh esoaplas taxation anu tnas ne
shoa1a feeonsof' saenh INTO 1a1aole Pefson@i-
ty as soon Us the Danger Of taxation was over
Mr. ANDREWS made up list Of twenty -four
ncrsnns oacl, hn1f1ino nj m {f}f> warth Of 1,er
f~' ~ ~ ~
sonAl property, and the differences in their
1 ssnn ~ .s.-.t1s s - ~. ,