The state rights democrat. [volume] (Albany, Linn County, Oregon) 1865-1900, 1885-01-16

lLy anu MAINTAIN the functions OF the
government which they represent. Il
is to gather in this needed money that
assessment and taxation are rssortsd to.
A fundamental principle of our govern
ment is that ell citizens are equal BE-
fore the law. This includes public
duties as we'll as rights, privileges ard
purogativss. The life and liberty Of
every citizen is entitled to protection
equally with eEery other citizen. No
distinction in this respect can be made
between she rich and the poor, the high
or the low. The life and tho liberty Of
the most humble citizsn is as equally
dear and sacred as that of president,
supreme judge, congressman, railroad
magnate, bank president or million
aire. Aud to the extent Of the cost of
protecting life and liberty, this humble
citizen should contribute equally with
the millionaire. But all property should
be made to contribute equally to pay
the expense and cost of its own protec-
tien. We use the word call" ad-
visedly. We mean to say that if :
man has oae thousan dollars and in.
vests it in sheep, be should be taxed on
one thousand dollars worth 81 property,
and that tax should be levied and coll
lected in the county where such sheep
are kept. Bnt It another man puts
a thousand dollars in horTes he, t0o.
should pay tex in the county where
such horses are located. Ii another
invests q thousand dollars in a lien up
on farm, he, too, should be taxed uDon
one thousand dollars worth of property
and the assessment upon such property
should be made AMI the tax collected
in the county where the owner of such
property has seen fis to locate it. If q
man in Portland puts his money into
sheep and puts those sheep on the grass
In Wasco county, he should pay taxes
on them in Wasco county. If man
in Portland invests his money 10
mortgage in Linn county, the owner of
such mortgage should pay taxes il Linn
county, whose coutts and local govern
mental officials are to be invoked to
protect him in all his rights under the
mortgage. But we are told that to tax
money is to be unfr;endly to it, and
thus drive it out of tt, state. For the
same reason we might say that to tax
horses, sheep, hogs, goats, etc., would
be unfriendIy to such property and
would drive them out of the state. But
such property as the latter is just a.
essential to the growth and prosperity
of the state as money, and our legisla-
tors should be as tender towards it az
money.
1t is wholly unfair and foreign to
our system of government to tax one
class of people at the expease of anoth-.
er. To let mortgages, notes, or money
go untaxed, would be taxing the own
ers of taxable property for the benefit
of the holders of mortgages, notes and
money. But we are told that if money
is allowed to come here free that the
rate of interest will soon go down and
money will be cheap. II this were
true, it would be taxing non borrowers
to benefit borrowers, h;ch would lack
the essential of fair dealing as we'll a.
of all citizens before the law.
But this is not necessarily true. Strange
that this argument should be made al
most wholly by those who loan money.
4 man who loans money does not want
money to be cheap, tha. is he does not
want the rate of interest TO be low.
Then why should he depend upon the
force of this argument to induce the
legislature to repeal the mortgage tax
law !? Those lenders who make use of
this argument are uncandid and selfish
about it. Again, Wa are told that
lands are taxed at one half or thirds
their value, while money and mort
cages are assessed at their full value.
We admit that their is ground for this
But this is not the fault
of the law, but the fault of the assessors
who, for various reasons, have fallen
into the habit of thus assessing lands.
Assessors In many cases have thup
as sessed lands for less than their value
for the purpose of keeping up friendly
relations with the tax payers who are
supposed to control county conventions. |
Assessors have also assessed property
low in order that their counties might
escape state taxation. We have no
hesitation in expressing the belief that
farmers will be fnlly satisfied to see
ands as well as other property taxed
It their full value. The only safe course
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