The Windham County reformer. (Battleboro, Vt.) 1876-1897, 1880-11-26
The Outlook for Tax Reform.

| peTNhulHk lcciilb tIaI ooihoo"HS o"S"
to be done, and among large majorit
of the members disposition to do it
but the corporations and the exempted
interests are sure to rally such lobby
to oppose, amend, emasculate and mil
up all measures affecting them, that thu
poor farmers are likely to get hopelessl,
bewidered, and adjourn without doinl
anything.
Gov. Pages bill to tax corporations il
seems to us touches exactly the wors
part of our present system, where the
| fight should be made. The great trouble
now is not with the failure of listers to
assess the property of Individuals though
there are many remediable defects here
but with the vast amounts of corporate
property which are practically or wholly
exempt. Gov. Page proposes;
+ tax of per cent, payable direct to the state
treasury on the gross receipts OF ralroaus anu II
these receipts exceed S2O0o iIe, PEI uers p,
yded that all real estate outside their rghl OF way
sbaI, he subject 70 local taxation like other prop
erty. -, .,o vroSa anoount ~
ppanies foreign as well as domestic; ana those
doing business wholly or partly on tne mutual
plan, shall pay per cent - on ~, net ASSETS hre
ov snecial tax of 3 per cent on the gross re-
| ceints Of telegraph and express companies by
business done in the STATE ~ 49,,
tay of per cent on the market value OF tnt
stock of State or National banks, or other compa-
MES INCORPORATED by or doing business wlthn the
state and payable directly 10 lne state .leasuaei;
s. tax of per cent on DOM tnaa in
Sjm
both cases such amounts OF capital as are invested
| in government bonds or real estate, suoJec' 10
| local taxation, are deducted ,, oor,,e,o.oa
| q A tax of per cent on the bonus, certlncates
or evidences Of debt of corporations so far as held
| by residents of the state , ,u,>o,.
| l. A tax of per cent on all personal paoPeity
| not taxed by the preceding provisions, ana on
| money secured by mortgage, as returned py tne
listers of the different towns, payapie uifecuy "
| the State treasurer. :, t tho ,ao,oo+
| ~ rafnsal Of any treasurer financial ofticer OF
| any of these institutions to afford the necessary
| information for the taxes lald.
This bill is certainly right in principle,
and though some of its features may need
modification, the adoption of its main
provisions are absolutely necessary to
avoid the grossest inequalities of the pres
emf system. Gov. Page has been giving
this subject of taxation an exhaustive
study for several years, and he sought his
election to the Legislature chiefly to effect
some good in this matter
His idea is to secure an average
total rate of taxation throughout the
State of about per cent. Three tifths OF
the property now escapes in one way or
the other. The plan he proposes will
probably bring nearly two-ffths of it I'M
der assessment. Tabulated, his figures
| show:
The grand list for 1880 is.......,. .$,OoS,ooo W
| being one per cent of the real and
personal estate, and the polls at ~
Assuming that the average total taxa
ton in the State is So on the ST. as is
probably about the fact, he finds that the
people pay S2,OO7,0 900 90.
| OF this amount under the present sys-
TEN the real estate will pay ......sl, i2z,Z94 "
| The personal estate will pay........ goo go "a
The polls. ..........'''' .,....'...... Zo''9oo w
Now the real estate pays nearly five
times as much as the personal property,
and the polls almost as much as the per-
sonal property. Gov. Page, after care
fully digesting all the statistics at hand,
thinks his special taxes would raise upon
the personal estate, at least $750000 He
proposes to reduce the polls to ST in the
list, as Taft's bill also contemplates. With
these changes, the approximate sum re-
quired, would be raised thus
Thu roal estata under its nrasant low
appraisal Of not exceeding forty per
cent of its true value, w9nld pay. si,115,o2o 90
The personal estate, ETC.. $50 900 90
The polls ........................ l4l,9sO 90
Furthermore. deducting $27O,OOO for
| state expenses which is certainly all they
ought to be from the $750,000 which it is
proposed to make corporations and per
sonal property pay, every dollar o
State expenses would be paid, with
out any grand list tax at all, and bal
ance of $3.50, 900 be left to be distributed
to the towns, sum equal to tax o
about 48 cents on the dollar of the pres
ent grand list of the several towns, which
would leave only $l.22 on the dollar tc
be raised for town, village, city and schoo
purposes, by grand list tax.
The whole question then is, whether
our property-holders shall continue to
pay an average of So taxes, when $1.22
would suffice,if the property now exempt,
| and easily taxable, were made to bear its
fair share of the burdens.
The main objection thus far urged to
Pages bill, is that it proposes to raise too
much money, it should only provide for
enough to pay State expenses. If it would
help the passage of the bill we do not
see why it is not practicable to drop the
last provision, and let general personal
property and mortgages be left to local
listing as now. None of the taxes on cor
porations are excessive or unjust. They
will be fought desperately of course, but
SO would any equitable and honest tax.
They shonld never be lowered one iota
in order to avoid the opposition of the
corporations.
The only objection to the bill, it seems
to us, is the proposition to list polls at
only 81. Polls are paying oppressive
taxes now, it is true, but it is because
those that belong to corporations, and
rich men are piled on to them, not that
they are listed too high. Let them re-
main in the list at So, collect the other
taxes that Gov. Page proposes, and the
local taxes would come down towards a
dollar for a dollar on the grand list
Certainly 81 is not too much for even
poor man to pay for the privilege of
being freeman in Vermont.
Several other measures of tax reform
are proposed which we will discuss more
at length next week. Amone them
Dwinnell's plan to apportion the State
tax according to population, with an
amendment that towns of less than 800
inhabitants should pay only three-fourths
of their proportion, ought to be adopted
if we have any State tax at all. Other
bills for "iron cladr oaths in listing and
to relieve mortgaged property of double
taxation, especially that which exempts
A per ct. mortgages of not over $4,000, have
merits which deserve careful attention.
The Legislature took long recess for
Thanksgiving. especially to get time to
the tax question. 1t is good |
time for the constituents TO take a
hand in. A stiffening for the right
will uot hurt the best of our leg
slators. Let them understand that
the people are thoroughly in earnest
On this subject; if they allow themselves