Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1883-02-19
la,lcaster fntelligenrsr.
MONDAY EVENING. FEB 10. 1893.
E0ualfty IN Taxation.

Equality IN Taxation.
The Philadelphia fecord still main
aims that q tax upon one thing is |
,quafly diffused upon all things. 1t
asserts thes., though Mr.. Vanderbilt
owned 81 the personal property in New
York and we owned all the realty,
and the realty alone was taxed, Mr..
Vanderbilt would bear equally with US
the burden of the tax. It says that g. the
burdens laid on realty lessen the divi-
dends on his shares and the interest on
his money. He pays his proportionate
tax to the last farthing by reason of his
d iminished income the labOring man
who carries hod for Mr.. Vanderbilt,
pays his proportion in the increased cost
OF living, though neither the one nor the
other own one dollars worth of real
estate"
If that statement be true, then AL
equally distributed tax is not what we
want; we need q further levy upon
Mr.. Eanderbilt's diminished income.
But like many plausible theories, tie
Records is defective in Impractical oper-
alton. The idea is that the owner of realty
collects the tax from the tenant, the
tenant gets it from his employer, the
employer charges it to his workmen, and
the consumer finally pays it. To large
extent this is the result, but the result
does not flow forth so uniformly as to
make the diffusion of the tax altogether
even; nor if it did, would the conse-
quent equal imposition Of the burthen
of taxation upon the consumer, OF
in other words upon the individual
be in accordance with our idea Of equi
table taxation; which is that the man'i
income, not the man, shall bear the bur,
then of taxation. Mr.. Vanderbilt
charges to the expenses Of his operation!
the cost of the taxes on realty which hi!
employees have to pay and which he re
imburses them in the amount of thei
wages these expenses are borne by hi
customers until they are finally saddle'
on the consumer. Mr.. Vanderbilt doe
not bear the burthen of the taxes OF an.
of his employees except those whom h
employs about his person and pays out 0
his " diminished income"
Income would be the proper thing +
tax, if it could be generally reached
bat as it cannot, any attempt to tax
would be folly. We must get as near t
it as we can. A tax on corporation div
dends is one that can be always collected
and therefore they seem to be among th
equitable subjects of taxation. .Ref
estate can be readily appraised an
reached, and SO it is another proper sui
ject for the tax gatherer. We agre
that taxation cannot be made entirel
equitable. But we cannot see that a ia
on real estate alone would be the neare'
possible approach to equity in taxation
as the Record seems to think it wOul'
We agree with it that it is desirable
tax but few things. II the state cou
raise sufficient revenue from the sale I
the privileges she grants, it would be I'll
best source of her revenue and we al
disposed to think that Pennsylvania cou
do this.
Real estate should not bear the who
burthen of taxation if for no other re;
son than that its owners should n
alone be made the collectors of Il
public revenue. They have to take :
81, &c on11no{ fhc
tenants. Sometimes tenants do not pi
their rent and when they do the tax {
the property is not always laid up'
them. Our experience in renting re
estate, which has not been small, teach
us that the tax upon it is very often n
an element in the rent charged. The fl
quent variations in the rate of the tax le
do not generally make change in t
rate of rent, which depends solely up
the question of supply and demand, a
is likely to remain Unaffected by chan
Of even one per cent. in the tax rate. L
r, ,ard's theory would require this adj
tianal burthen of taxation to he at on
started on its course of ditfusi o.
but it has not weight enough to ov
come its inertia or if it does, its fol
soon spends itself to turn the Recor
illustration against itself, the pebble IL
is cast into the pond after its first f
circles ceases to appreciably disturb
surface. And if there is this natu
immobility in the tax levied on improv
reality, which returns an income, mu
more does that levied upon unimproy
reality, which has no renter, stay vi
the owner of the property. The diff
sion of the real estate tax is somethi
that works a great deal more smooth
in theory than in practice; as we are I
lucky enough to have fully realized.
THE municipal and township electl'
come off tomorrow, and though they
generally anticipated with little popu