Daily Republican. [volume] ([Wilmington, Del.]) 1874-1890, 1884-03-06
Unss.a, Taxas.e. s.a the Cause


William Dean in the Every Evening
il complaining of the system Of levyinl
county taxes in vogue in New Castle
County,a az well az the inequality oftax.
alton. Mr.. Dean, on behalf of the real
estate owners of New Castle County,
has just cause for complaint, because
upon that class Of citizens falls the bur
then of an unjust system of taxation.
In another sense for himself, personal
ly, Mr.. Dean cannot very consistently
complain at all Why, are we asked ?
Simply because Mr. Dean was for four
years one Of the law makers of the
State, and gave his assent, a. such, TO
the very system of taxation which now
throws the unequal burthen Of taxes
upon real estate, without once raising
his voice against the system or even
offering any better method or plan by
which taxes would fall equally upon
all. Mr.. Dean was u legislator about
or soon after the time when the iniqui-
tOus assessment laws were passed, which
were designed more than anything else
to cheat Republicans out of their votes
by cheating the county out Of their
poll taxes. Thousands Of dollars, which
should and would have been paid by
poll tax payers, have been shifted and
levied upon the property of real estate
owners, and the latter are forced to foot
the bill.
We have never heard that Mr. Dean
did anything, when he had the power
to do something, to remedy the evil
which he now complains Of so far ~
the ievying of poll taxes are concerned,
and we notice that this part of the inc.
quality in taxation is still carefully
|avoided by him, whether Intentionally or
not we cannot say. Nevertheless, it is
a well known fact that several thou
sand dollars in poll taxes could be col
lected every year that are not collected
and these several thousand dollars the
real estate owners have to pay, because
the county must have the taxes no mat
ter where they come from.
Mr.. Dean, evidently, carefully
avoids referring to this part Of the sub
ject he treats in somewhat logical and
sensible manner, and yet there is no
man knows better than he what was
the principal object of the unjust ns-
sessmcnt laws which fall SO heavily
upon the shoulders Of the farmers. Mr..
Dean shows a wonderfully servile will
lingness To submit to the present unjust
system of assessments and taxation,
which were never intended for any
other than partisan purposcs--that is, in
plain terms, to cheat Republicans out
of their votes and to- keep the Demo
cratic party in power in the Safe.
That this has been the result cannot
be successfully refuted. Mr.. Dean has
profitted twice by this unjust system.
Twice has he been elected to the Legis-
latnre because the unequal and unjust
assessment laws of which he complains
cheated number of Republicans out
Of their votes to permit Democratic sue
cess
Not only has Mr.. Dean profitted
twice in the past by the unjust assess
ment laws, but he is even now filling
at least two responsible positions of
trust-inore of trust we are pleased to
say than of proft-through the same
means. We are not in the least sur
prised that he does not attack the main
cause Of a growing inequality Of taxa
ton, because he could not do 80 con-
sistently, havingproftted by that system
of fraud and inequality without ever
having entered protest, If Mr.. Dean
wants to be true tax reformer, ne
should at once attack the system that
creates necessity for reform, even
though that attack should be rehec-
ton upon his past political course.
He should know that a law maker
cannot shake off the responsibility of
guilt for bad laws against which he
never entered protest. Let Mr.. Dean |
turn the batteries Of his powerful !
Intelligence against the political |
citadel, from which eInanatcs this
unjust system of unequal taxation, and
then the people will look upon him in
The light Of a true retOrmer and gen
tleman who is willing to practice what
he breaches.