The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-03-02
Taxation.


To the Editor OF the Indianapolis Jou rnaI:
The demands of the tax-gatherer are impera-
tive His calls are as certain as death, and by
many dreaded as much, as they are as often I'M
prepared to meet his exactions. The cause of
this is not because every good citizen is not will
ing to pay his honest share of necessary ex-
penses of State and general government but
because they in some way arrive at the conclu-
sion that either the tax is too high, or that the
assessments are not properly made These two
objections are therefore the only debatable ones
in the whole subject The intelligent citizen
will not object to the amount of the tax il he
can be convinced that the revenues are not
squandered by those who collect and dsburse
them, and that the purpose to which they are
applied promote the general good-that the bene-
fits that result therefrom may be realized by
each citizen in proportion to the amount paid.
This objection they may obviate by selecting
good and trustworthy public servants.
The second objection is one upon which the
different State governments have been expert
menting for some years The political aspirant
never gets among the people whose votes he is
seeking without expatiating on the burden of
unjust taxes his opponent or the opposing party
has heaped upon them. He always has some de-
falcation or some extravagant appropriation or
waste by which the taxridden people have been
feeced.
How to raise State revenues is the great prob
lem that legislators are attempting to solve
in such a manner as to popularize their different
theories: shall this be raised by direct or in
directg From an article in the February num-
Der of the Popular Science Monthly we learn
that much of the revenue Of several of the
States is collected from corporations; in some
there is no direct taxes still, and that they were
paid without murmur or aisapproval In Ver-
mont, for example, no direct tax was levied in
1883 and 1884
The comptroller of New York received in 1884
&c. 569 161.3 3d. of which ST. COB 612 rs collected
from corporations. In 1884 Wisconsin was not
obliged to levy any direct tax. About $240, 900
was paid by corporations The State Treasurer
OF Minnesota says that the revenue from corpo-
rations Is increasing so rapidly that direct tax
can soon be wholly abandoned in that State
In New Jersey there is no regular direct tax
only for schools. In every State where the ex.
pertinent of assessing the main burden of taxes
upon corporation railroads, telegraphs, tele-
phones, insurance companies, the liquor traffic
and enormous incomes, the plan has worked
well. and the people have been well pleased with
/. it. There is reaching out in every direction an
effort to find new objects for taxation, so as to
leave the lands and the toiling industries of the
country as little burden to bear as possible
The most of the New England States tax
deposits Of saving banks. This we would
not approve Maryland, Virginia and Pennsyl-
vania tax collateral inheritances. 1t is not nee
essary to go over the whole field of estates as
sessed, or the plans of raising State and national
government funds. The object in writing this
short article on question so long before the peo
pie. is to direct public attention TO the question
that the taxpayers may think over the list of
taxables in Indiana, determine who should pay
the amount needed and what articles should be
assessed Taking the last census for data, we find
that the real estate was valued by the assessor
at $685. 683 1885, the personal property at $780, 49,
S95, which was assessed So. 493 963 for State pur
poses. Add to this the county and township tax
levied on property we find that about $12 000 600
was collected principally from the men who till
the soil, drive the trades and develop the indus
trial resources Of the State. Cannot this burden
be ighteneda is the standing inquiry, an answer
to which will require careful thought, candid re-
fection and honest effort. j. w. HERvEY
INDIANAPOLIS, Feb 20
Prohibition, Local Option or High License?
10 the Editor of the Indianapolis Journal;
Everybody is wiser than anybody" The
temperance question. and what we Republicans
shall do with it this fall will bear further discus
sion. 1t is dilemma with three horns-prohibi-
ton, local option or high license. To each term
there are. very serious objections.
l. 1t is evident that for the present prohibi-
ton in Indiana is impracticable. Prohibition
is an end that requires a long process of educa-
ton in State like ours to accomplish Beecher.
in his Republican year once said: 81 am a free
trader, out that requires long protective edu-
cation, and so. for the present am a pro-
tectionist" The prohibition argument is strong,
but the world is seldom greatly influenced by
argument. Politics aud politicians seldom deal
in distractions. They aim only at the available
good, and do not often keep much in advance of
public sentiment 1t will require a generation
Of temperance education to bring this State
again up to the point that it attained in 1856
when the Democratic Supreme Court upset the
prohihitory law of 1855.
2 The same court in 1854, in what is known
That case decided that municipality could not
say by . popular vote whether to grant or with
hold licenses 10 sell intoxiearaa hncausa this ~ a.