Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1881-03-25

changed social and economical condition OF
the country. In all the States in which great |
accumulations OF personal property have been
created through commerce and manufactures, |
the inadequacy of the present system OF rais-
ing money for the expenses of the Govern |
ment has long been recognized. In the days |
before stocks and bonds were known or wide |
ly distributed-th is, from the settlement |
Of the country down to fifty years ago-the |
rule followed all over the country was to tax |
everything man owned, and what he owned |
was, except cash, almost invariably visible |
to his neighbors, and incapable of conceal |
ment. Ii consisted for the most part, no
matter how rich he was, in land, horses or
cattle, slaves, ships. mills, furnaces, forgcs,
distilleries, brcweries, ferries and vehicles.
The tax-lists Of the last century in most
States. if not all, contained nothing, in fact,
4! j! visible property like the foregoing. and
It's visible property was well-known to be
~, the property taxpayer had Win the
:. with of commerce and industry there has
grown up II body of wealth in the form of
shares in joint stock companies, in the shape
Of stock and evidences of debt due by such
companies, and by towns, cities, and govern
ments, which the owner finds no difficulty IN
concealing from public observation, but from
which he derives o surer income than from
any visible property, and can sell much more
promptly and advantageously than he can
sell house or a horse.
The bulk of this form OF wealth is now
very great in some States. The farmer,
whose possessions are all still of the old kind,
sees no reason why the new form OF wealth
should not be taxed US well as the old, and
his desire to tax 1t is increased by the fact
that its owners are generally far richer than
he is. and fiaunt their luxury in his face in
manner which he oftens finds exasperating.
He hears every year of the failure ofassessor5
TO get AT it, and Of the success OF divers
dodges and subterfuges in concealng 1t.
Proof is furnished him every year that the
greater portion Of IT escapes taxation alto
gether. The Special Tax Commission which
has Just been sitting in New Jersey, and has
recently made its report, estimates the
amount ot personal property which IN that
State pays no Tax NJ considerably over S3Oo,-
OOO, 900, v hile the total value of the taxable
real estate is only S427 ,010,0 lu Massa-
chusetts, in which the pursuit Of personal
property by the tax gatherer is more relent-
less and minute than in any other State IN the
Union, he does not pretend 10 get at more
than seventy-tivc TO eighty per cent oi H. In
this State ho does not reach over one-quarler.
In 1873 the amount which the assessors
thought they had got at in the city of New
York, amounting to S554, 900. 900, WAS actu-
ally cut down before the books were closed
by nearly ono o-huf through exemptions aud
denials on oath Thlt Massachusetts, is So
much more successful than any other State
in hunting down the taxpayer and compelling
him to disgorge, Is only IN part due
to the inuuisitorial character ot her
collecting machinery. 1t Is duo IN
n still greater degree 10 the submissiyeness
to it on the part OF the people bred by long
usage. and. let us add, by an unusually high
degree of public spirit. Probably IN no
other State would the process be tolerated.
The New Jersey Commission, which has Just
made its report, pronounccs 1t foreign To
the habits and sentiments of the people OF
that State, and 'distasieful both 10 officials
md taxpayers" In Pennsylvania il has been
practically abandoned, and wherever 1t eN-
lists to-day there IS Il struggle gong on
against il on the part oi all those who think
that taxes ought to be collected IN The mode
which will cause least inconvenience to the
taxpayer which will cost least IN proportion
to the amount collected. which will offer the
fewest incentives to fraud and evasion, and
interfere least with industrial enterprise ami
activity and with the introduction ot foreign
capital
The capitalist takes least count OF reason or
experience, in the new constitution included
under the term of taxable property almost
every kind of possession he could think of
except growing crops" The working OF
this system, on its first trial, has just been
described in a most instructive paper by MIR.
T. c. Hopkins, in the Californian. The total
assessment for the whole State for 1889, un-
der the new constitution, Is even nOmlni!ly
only twenty-one and Il half per cent larger
than that Of 1879, when ''the money kings"
were supposed to be escaping their just share
of the public burdens. The California Bond
and Stock Herald for December II, 1880,
showed the value of the stocks and bonds
quoted on the San Francisco Exchange, and
liable to taxation, to be over llO,OOO,OOo
but in the assessment their entire value APP
pears as s.. 400, 329. Again, the State assess
nent puts down under the head OF money
s24 6Is. $50, or over S14, 600, 900 mere than
that Of 1879 But the report OF the Bank
Commissioners showed that in December,
| 1879. the amount of the deposits in the banks
throughout the State was in round numbers
$50. 0OO. 900, SO that about S51 200, 900 must
| have escaped taxation. The crop yield Of
| the State for 1879 was cstimatcd by the sur
yeyor-ceneral ut nearly SG1 900, ,0GO, but un-
| der the ingenious arrangement above tie
scribcd this paid nothing whatever. lpon
the numerous other crudltieS, impcrtcctions,
| and absurdtieS of the new system, Rs reveal
ed in the actual working OF the constitution,
| We have not time to enter. Ii is enough To
saw that US an attempt 10 get at the personal
property of the State, fully and efficiently, II
has proved Il total failure, while II has I'M
doubte ily had the effect both OF driving
large bodies Of capital out OF the State ani
of deterring large bodies Of capital from en-
tering it, Dir. Hopkins pronounces 1t use
less TO talk Of establishing extensive niaut-
factures in California while the present laws
| are in force.
The remedies for this long standing con
fusion and failure offered 10y tax-rcfOrmeis
are all based on the principle that real prop
erty owes its value mainly To personal prop
erty that the more personal property You
can induce people 10 place ami keep upon II
the more valuable yon make it and thai
when you tax land and other immovable and
unconcealable things, our tax is gradually
ditfused over all other kinds of property
and every kind of owner is reached
by it without sending the taNgatherer II
pursuit of him. One extreme OF this theory
is still represented by Mr. David \. Wells
who advocated it very forcibly aud ably II
the report Of the Commission # 1871, on lh'
tax system of this State. His doctrine -
briefly stated that if you tax lauds and house
YOU reach everything, because the tax VII
diffuse itself through all commodities pro
duced or sold i'll the State, Us part oi The cos
of production, and thus eventually reach 'h'
| consumer Ii is proper 10 say That soin'
economists in Europe. as well ~ here, uoub
whether such "A tax would reach the con
srmer with It's full and proper weight, 10
reasons which we have rot room 10 STAT"
The objections OF other American taN-Ir
!, formers to il are, however. rather polltica
than economical What they say is thnt
however sound Mr.. Weiss doctrine ma.
be-, it Is hopeless TO get the American iarner
who is in every State the real Legislator, Il
recognize its soundness in the present stat
, of his mind on the subject OF the distribution
of the public burdens. He has not yet glvel
, up the hope Of getting at the rich bondhold
ers and gold bugs somehow, and even l
he had, ho would hardly tho ready To asre
i that this year, next year, or any gwen year
. the whole burden of State taxation should ID
borne by the land Mr. Sherman and Mr
= , Wells would both admit that the diffusion
I of the tax, il levied on the land exclusively
would be gradual and perhaps slow process
For one or Two wears the owners oil real rs
T tate would have, SO 10 speak, 10 advance
e large part OF the public revenues Out OF 'hei
own pockets, with corresponding tempora
ry depression in the price uf Their property
and tho bulk of them are not IN u position L
face the change cheeriully. II any sue
+ change is ever to be brought about 1t mus
+, be approached gradually, by such step,
have been taken by tho State OF Pennsylva
: MIA and Us recommended by the New Jersc
, Commission. They recognize MS the basis q
! reform the rule which Mr. Euslee of Mem
u phis, Tennessee. some years ago, SAID sh"nI
he cut in stone on the State capitol "Neve
tax anything that would he of value to you
State, and that could and would run away
= or that could aud would come To You. l
other words, impose no taxes ON pronert
y y which the owners can readily carry OH, an
In searching ior which You are likely 10 lir
Q tate them, and tempt them into perJur,
r and fraud, but which, while within y"t
Il boundaries, helps to stimulate your lndus'i
and increase the value Of youi land ami max
/ f.tN fNh