The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1877-07-28
n PACIFIC
Observation-Disclosures
SATURDAY. JULY %.
OUR TAX LAWS.

On Saturday last a meeting of merchants
and others was held at the room of the
Honolulu Chamber of Commerce, to take into
consideration the subject of the new law passed
by the last legislature whereby a system OF
double taxation is imposed. The law in ques-
ton is comprised in Sections 483 and 4S4 of the
Civil Code, as amended. which read as follows
Section 4s3. All personal property Of Eha' ever kind ,a1.,i mot
shall he sutiect 10 a n annual tax of three-ouarrers of one per
cent. upon the full cash valuation, thereof The term =" per,
furniture; goods and chattels, wares and Merchandise, All
notes notes Of hand, unsecured debts, growing crops, public stocks,
stocks in corporations, and every species OF property mol n
cluced in real estate"
all real property within the Kingdom, not specially exempted
from taxation, an annual tax Of thIee,quarters Oh one per = p.
tIct where situated irrespective Of any mortgage. Inc term
of revenue, shall be deemed to include all lands and town lots,
with the buildings, structures, and other things erected on OF
1t will be evident upon reading these sections,
that no owner of % notes of hand, unsecured
debts, growing crops, public stocks or stocks in
corporations can expect the assessor to omit
any of those items of property, and also owners
of real estate may rely with certainty on
that species of property receiving its assess
ment 8 ; irrespective of any mortgages" Whether
this kind of taxation is authorized by the Con-
s%titution or not, is a question which only the
Supreme Court is competent to answer and
until the plain requirements of the law are held
by that tribunal to be repugnant to the constitu-
ton, the duty of the assessors and of the Min
lister of Finance is to execute the law as it
stands.
For instance, the law taxes real estate-as
well as notes of hand-at its full cash value,
without deduction by reason of mortgages.
Stocks in corporations are taxable to their holder
or owner, at their full value, without first
deducting from the entire market value of the
real estate owned by the corporation.
A solution of the difficulty which has been
suggested is, for the Ministers to take the re-
sponsibility of exempting mortgaged property
from taxes to the extent OF its encumbranees,
and to order the assessors not to assess stock, or
else to omit corporation real estate. But the
objection to this course is that it would be
more unconstitutional than the statutes them
selves, of which We complain, could possibly be
for Ministers are authorized to execute, not to
set aside the laws, and it is not for them to say
that any duly enacted statute is void.
The questions which will be raised are intri-
cate and important they have received consid-
Grafton in the courts of California, with varying
results, for several years. The " Political Code
of that state (l872) under the head of L" defni-
tons, has the following: The term real
estate includes the ownership of, claim to, pos
session of, or right to the possession of land"
y = The term improvements includes all
buildings, structures, fixtures, fences, and i'm
provements erected upon or affixed to the land"
- All fruit, nut bearing or ornamental trees and
vines, not of natural growth" 1.-The term
8 full cash value means the amount at which
the property would be appraised if taken in pay
ment of a just debt due from a solvent debtor"
Section 3640 of the same Code reads as fol-
9Th owner or holder of stock in any
firm or corporation, the entire capital or pro-
perty whereof is assessed, must not be assessed
individually for his stock in such firm or corpora
ton This last is a provision which enunciates
the principle now commended for here, to wit, that
the same property cannot be assessed twice and
to avoid complications in the future its tenor
should be incorporated in our civil code, as soon
as may be.
The public will watch with interest the result
of the proceedings in the Supreme Court on the
subject of our tax laws.