, 1879-05-03

Is difficult to conjecture what, II any, limit ca
be placed upon taxation by the judicial 1nterprt
Imaginary property. II it ia sugeestc
that the stock OF corporation ma
be interpreted to be untaxable becaus
it represents taxed property, it may also D
suggested that the same rule Of Interpretation
will require credits not to be taxed, for they ar
also representative Of taxed property: ant
| thus the whole system OF taxing "hat p" ant
hocus-pocus property must stand or fall to
! gether.
It seems, however, that the system under con
sideratlon plainly intends to tar general credits
| and also the property which they represent
leasehold interestsNswe as the land; wheat ani
| other commodities and warehouse receipts Is
| sued for these commodities; the cargoes ol
vessels and cars, aud bills OF lading; the prop
sTiy d a"d @ 6efs OF s ard its gGGs
capital and property in business, and
also the good will OF business, down to
tile goodwill Of the peanut-stand; because all
ownership. Every form Of title in property
may have in turn
OTHER TITLES BASED ON IT.
which are capable Of pirate ownership, and
thus, through the agency OF fjat-property and
hocus-pocus~title property, actual property may
be taxed ad infinitum; and thus the chief eud
Of man" in California will consist in watching
The new Constitution requires the Legisla-
ture to levy an annual poll-tax Of not less than
81 on male iahabitant8, and to exact a sworn
annual statement from every person OF all his
property. The persons subject to this annual
examination and fnquisition will include alt
adults OF both sexea capable OF owning prop
erty. The number Of adults in California is
about one.half Of the entire population,
and will amount to more than 10o,-
900 in San Francisco alone. This grand
fTf7FY fr7Af1
must make annual pflgrimages to the confes-
slonal OF the Assessors; and then On subse-
quenr day in the year must march to the Tax
Collectors office aud liQuidate the claims OF
the State aud its municipalities. This Is the
most intnitcsimal, objectionable, and yexatious
have any record. No parallel to it can be found
even in feudal times, In England in the reign
Of Edward ILL.,, all kinds Of tangible property
were subject to taxation, and poll-tax
po}l-tax were taxed as tulldressed, including
the suit Of clothes on tile person at the time.
But this law was found to be too odious to be
executed, and was soon modified. The Cali
to1pia system, II adopted. will impose poll
tax on the taxpayer in his primitive state, aud
will add supplemental tax on every dollar in
value of his tangible property OF every class,
and on every item in quantity,
j.. WITHOUT ANY REDUCTION FOR DEBTS.
II he own6 nothing but a shirt, or has one fn
bis possession or uuder his control at Il o'clock
meridian on the first Monday Of March, be must
make sworn statement Of it, and be examined
And catecbised by the Assessor. This Is Utopjan,
aud any attempt 10 execute it would produce
political revolution either under a despotism or
i free government. In New York less than / |
oer cent Of the population lay personal tax, |
otLer than on bank shares, and in none Of the !
States is the number of adults large |
Who pay personal tax US compared with the /
ldult population. lu the most advanced conf
nercial countries of the world the taxation of !
property has long been abolished, and |
'et, in face of this experience, California now !
proposes to attempt the extremely i,npracticable
md impossible. Colbert, the French states
nan, said that the secret Of taxation consisted
II picking the goose with the minimum Of souall-
ny; but this California project would produce
lle maximum Of squallng with the minimum
t feathers !