The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1886-06-25
ABOUT ROAD AND OTHER TAXES.

Mr.. c.. H. Dickey is an earnest and
conscientious man. 1t is not his fault
that his mental horizon is very close to
the tip of his nose, but his intentions
are good. He has observed that there
are inequalities in the road tax, or rather
that the road tax has not been fairly dis
tributed, and he fancied that by exempt
ing native Hawaiians from its payment
he could equalize things. This was a
mistake. The evil was not to be reached
or remedied in that way. In fact, in
Justice of another kind would be caused
by his bill, even if it became law.
But Mr. Dickey did not intend to do
injustice to any one, and he is doubtless
ready to accept practical suggestions in
the management of his bill If so, and
if he would be advised by us in a per-
fectly friendly and disinUerested way, he
would either withdraw it or let it drop
1t is not conceived in broad spirit. 1t
is partial and one-sided, and therefore
unfair. But Mr.. Dickey may do good
and useful work if he applies himself to
the task of thoroughly investigating our
tax laws, with the view of giving effect
to the ideas in the following sentence,
which appeared in our evening cOntem-
porary over his signature yesterday. Mr.
Dickey says: There can be no fairer
tax than a property tax properly car
ried out, but personal taxes should be as
light as possible, as the benefits are apt
to be unevenly distributed in proportion
to the taxpayers"
Mr.. Dickey has hit the blot of our
fiscal system. Real estate does not bear
its fair share of the burden of taxation
according to value. There are proper
ties worth from S. 900 to $50, 900 which
do not pay taxes on one-twentieth,
we had almost said on One-fftieth
part of their value. We state these
figures arbitrarily, but they are suti-
GENTLY near for the purpose OF illustra-
ton, as we do not wish to select par
ticular cases. Now, nearly all these
properties belong to rich men-tO men,
some of whom have ruled the destinies
OF the Kingdom, shaped its legislation,
and dictated the laws under which they
are taxed These are the great tax
shirkers that throw nearly all the bur
dens of State upon the poor and middle
classes, who are not in position TO hide
their property and defraud the common
wealth by concealment, or leases Of con-
venience ut nominal rents to relatives or
dependents. If all property were hon
estly returned at its true value to the
assessors, the income of the country
would be sufficient for all purposes OF
government, and there would not be
hint either of loan or unpaid obligations
by the Administration.
AIR. Dickey, unfortunately for himself,
trains with the tax-shirking party, but
as an honest man he ought to shake
himself loose from his environments,
and instead of seeking to mitigate one
evil by creating another, he should en-
deavOr TO frame a tax law which would
bear equally upon rich and poor alike
in other words, that all property, OF
whatever character or description,
should be equally taxed in proportion TO
its true value. If that were done prop
erty valued at $4,000 would not pay
taxes on say $500, the aggregate of eight
years bogus rental under the existing law;
neither would several dividend-paying
plantations, or a dividend paying manu-
featuring concern, be run without
money, as would now appear to be the