Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1878-12-04
New System OF Taxation.

An exceedingly valuable paper was re-
Gently read before the Bar Association of
New York state, then in session at Albany,
by the Hon. James A. Briggs, one of the
state assessors. The subject which he dis
cussed-" State Taxation lis by no means
a new one, but it was illustrated with such
a profusion of facts and figures as no other
man has brought to bear upon it. Mr..
Briggs holds that state taxation should be
limited to real estate, and all personal prop
erty-construed to include all household fur
niture, money, goods, chattels, debts due from
solvent debtors, whether on account, con-
tract, note, bond or mortgage-shoud be
exempt. The reasons adduced in support
of this theory are two;
Firs'-The present laws are such, at least
they are so executed as to leave it optional
to each individual whether he'will report
personal property for taxation or not. If he
report none, it is practically impossible for
the assessor TO ascertain whether he has any
or if he is known to have personal prop
erty, to determine its amount. The result
is that the tax bears unequally upon citizens.
Those who are scrupulously honest, or who
have personal property in such form that it
cannot well be concealed, make returns and
are taxed the more fortunate and the less
honest escape. Thus, in 1872, widow in
Batavia paid larger tax on personal prop
erty than the whole city of Rochester; and
two widows in Batavia paid more than
Rochester and Utica together. Two women
in New York city pay more tax OH personal
property than incorporated companies in
that state whose capital stock is some $780,
100000. Banking corporations, having their
personal property in bonds and securities
the value of which cannot be easily con.
cealed, are compelled to pay large taxes
while private corporations, whose affairs are
known only to their managers, escape. In
short, the present system of taxing personal
property is only premium on dishonesty.
Second-As a result of the defects in the
law already mentioned, the tendency is to
make the tax fall unequally upon the diff
ferent sections of the state Individual
citizens find less difficulty in evading it than
corporations. Consequently, wherever large
amounts OF capital are accumulated, the tax |
is least easy to evade, and hence is paid
most freely The cities bear the burden. |
while the rural districts escape and the
large city has to bear more than its due pro-
portion at that. Of the 950,224, S5S of state
taxes levied for all purposes last year, $685.
653,S3l were paid by the counties of New
York and Kings. And of the s99,O0O,OOO
of personal property returned for taxation
in New York city, the banks paid taxes on
s74,OOO,000. Fifty-four counties of that
state together paid a tax of only 81 ,27O,214,
and almost nothing of this was on personal
1t will, of course, be objected that to de-
rive all the taxes from real estate will be to
exempt from taxation those citizens who
hold no land, at the expense of those who
DO, and thus bring about the inequality of
burdens which it is endeavored to prevent.
But the answer is, that such system of
,axation-though not ideally fair--is the
ARREST that has ever been devised one that
'annot be evaded, and that offers no pre-
MUM to fraud Moreover, under such sys.
EN- no citizen could escape taxation. If he
'wned no real estate, he would pay his pro-
portion of the tax either in the form of rent
" in the increased price of every article
which he eats or wears There is truth in
he saying that nothing is certain in this
world but death and taxes; and a man !
nay as well try to escape from the one as
rom the other