The Daily bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Hawaii]) 1882-1895, 1886-07-21
THE LEGISLATURE.
s1xTY-FIFTu DAY.-CoNTINUED.
TUESDAY, July goth.
AFTERNOON SESSION.

AFTERNOON SESSION.
The committee resumed at 1886
o'clock.
Rep. Kaai moved the first section
be indefinitely postponed.
Rep. Hayselden said that the mo-
ton to indefinitely postpone the Sec
ton was put and not carried when
the section first came up for con-
sideration.
Rep. Aholo said there were a
number of things in the section he
did not understand, therefore he
moved the following as a substitute !:
Section 1. That section IA of
said Act be and the same is hereby
amended so as to read as follows:
'Section IA. The term real
property for the purposes of this
Act shall be deemed to mean and in
clude all lands and town lots, with
the buildings, structures, fences,
wharves, improvements and other
things erected on or affixed to the
same"
Rep. Castle thought the amend
ment Of Rep. Aholo was getting
back toward the simplicity of the
law of 1882. He supposed that
amendments to law should be in
the direction of something better,
and that all laws should be simple
enough to be understood by an
average intelligence. In the dis
cussion of this bill the other day
remarks were made that the oppo-
sition to it was from personal mo-
tives. Discussion of that kind was
useless. The business of this house
was to put Legislation ON a sound
basis and make the best laws posi-
BILE for the government of the coun-
try. He must say that, after all
the discussion that had taken place
on this bill, if it became law, in
stead of simplifying the law and
making it easier for all tax asses
sors, would give them confusion.
None of the members wished that
result. If the object was to increase
the taxes he was ready to support a
measure directly designed therefor.
1t seemed to him that, after all, the
difficulty suggested by some men,
bers was more with regard to
methods of assessment than the law
itself. The old law included all
land. AS the Acknowledgement said
the other day, the Legislature could
enact any definition it pleased. 1t
could pass law making a horse
real estate, but it would be q law
and nothing else. If the in
tention was to increase taxation by
taxing various things separately, it
would increase the work of tax APP
peal boards or country assessors, as
the case might be. The bill taxed
the houses on the land, so that land
worth $500 and a house on it worth
500 would be taxed separately.
They should be put together for
their fair market value under the
head of real estate. The amend
ment of Rep. Aholo was step in
the right direction, but if that MEM
Der considered q little he would see
that it included great deal of i'm
provements on the land. That was
perfectly correct, but why enumerate
when all those things were improve
ments? He did not agree altogether
with Rep. Dole's amendment. Rep.
Richardson's proposal to tax the
annual production was a good one.
In the body of this act there was
considerable that was valuable, but
he did not think they could improve
the law by those definitions of real
estate.
Rep. Dole, referring to a confu-
sions of definitions mentioned the
other day, pointed out where there
was such, between "claim to" and
fright to the possession of land"
under "raal estate" and "leasehold
and chattel interest in lands and real
estate" under "personal property"
privilege of getting timber or fire.
wood off land was chattel interest.
Nnder the proposed law the assessor
would be at his wits end to know
which was which, and be taxing
twice for the same thing. The
amendment he proposed himself he
was not particular about. He had
introduced it, as Hon. j. Mott
Smith would say, in an indefinite
manner. The main thing was
matter of principle, whether they
should tax real estate separately, or
tax all the improvements, crops, etc.,
in the judgment of the assessor. 1t
would be like taxing a horse SIS,
his head S., and legs and tail 81
each. That would increase the re-
suit on the horse to the Government,
but would not be very satisfactory
to the owner of the horse. 1t was
important to get good description
OF real estate, because the descrip-
ton of personal property depended
on that. If they got proper def
milton of real estate it was enough to
say that all else was personal pro-
perty. He was satisfied with the
present law as it stood.
Rep. Hayselden withdrew his
amendment, adding fences, wharves,
etc., in favor of Rep. Aholo's amend
ment. He did not think that would
make those things assessable sepa-