The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1883-07-07
JULY :, 1888.
The New Tax Bill.

The new law under which assessors OF
taxes have to make their returns this year
H. something more than a mere digest ana
re-euactment Of former laws. 1t changes
the Incidence Of taxation in several ways
and ian regard to some Of it, provisions eX-
perieuce only can enable u to judge
whether the change is for the better or for
the worse.
On looking over the statute OfIast session
the first thing that strikes u i tie absence
Of the time honored tax on horses In III
ture horses are to be treated like aI'y other
personal property, and taxed adj valofen-
Thi- change il decidedly equitable There
was no sense in taxing the owner oil a
horse worth so, in the same amount as
was imposed Oh the man whose stallion
cost him three or four thousand dollars 2E
whose imported carriage horse would sell
any day, for $500. Another change III the
law has done away with an Injustice which
has often been discussed in Our columns
This l. the double taxation Of money lent
Oh mortgage. Heretofore land paid IT. tax
10 it, full value, whether mortgaged or not,
and in the case where a mortgage existed
the lender OF the money had also to pay a
tax on his Investment. Such an arrange
meut was a curious anomaly In the law De
cause tine way in which the tax on personal
property was assessed was exactly the OPP
p7sfte, the taxpayer being allowed to deduct
from his Ostensible possessions all That he
might owe TO others; those others being eX-
pected to return the sums owing to them
a. taxable assets. a sweeping change has
been made in this important department
of our fiscal system. In future per-
sonaI property and land are to be
taxed according to the same method.
The man VIII Is Ostensibly i'm possession of
either has to pay the taxes on them, and Is
not allowed to deduct any debt from the
total value Of either. In the case of land
burdened with a mortgage a provision has
been made that the PrOportionate tax on
the value Of the mortgage shall be a valid
claim by the taxpayer against the mort
gage. This provision will, no doubt, in
practice. become Of no avail, a. every
mortgage will, in future, as numbers OF
them do now, contain clause throwing on
the borrower the payment of all taxes.
Thus the new law puts an end to that
.. double taxation" against the injustice of
which. the Hon. :. Y. Castle and others
used to iuvefgh so energetically and with
80 much GOOD cause. But if it does this
IltIeu 2Oph u -EGLAT W "AAaHNJ 80
case Of personal property to let some people
off too easily, and to burden some too
However large the stock a trader
may find it necessary to- carry he has to pay
tax ON the whole Of it. ON the other hand
owing To a nan are no longer reck-
oned among his assests. To the average
trader his may make but little difference
he probably at no time owes i great deal
than is owing to him But to the
Of q factory or n plantation the
change in the law means a severe increase
i'm taxation on personal property except in
the few, very few, cases in which the in
o owes no man anything" On
the other hand those whose business il is to
lend money to trade III debts, and such evil
Of debts as bills, notes and drafts
seem likely to get off far too cheaply- Per
this may be a small price to- pay for
Inc advantages the new system undoubt-
eddy possesses, "a to this, experience will
give Us some means o~fjudging, and until
tie Act has had a trial we refrain r-om any
criticism.