New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1889-07-05
MR.. HILL AND THE ,TAXPAYERS.

There has been little suspicion in this State
that Governor Hill is humorist, but after read
ing a certain recent publication of his, to wit,
his veto of various appropriations, we feel in
clined to warn all atter-day testers that they
have dangerous rival. The Governor in this
merry document, which on its face is merely
dry tabulated statement of the vetoed ap-
preparations, has written this item: "Vedder
Tax bill-S1 0, 000u The implication Of the
document is that he has " saved" that 81 900
which would otherwise have been taken out of
the State Treasury and indeed, copy of the
tabulated statement which is now floating
through the Democratic newspapers Of the in
terror of the State, sent out by the Governor
from his literary bureau in Albany, is intro
d1iced with the direct assertion that he has
"saved, to the State Treasury the amounts
named of the several vetoed appropriations.
It is surprising that the Governor, keen
witted politician as he is should have permitted
jocose inclination to sway him in this in
stance. Taxpaying voters will not relish his
Joke when they know that the $4,000 was ap-
propriated by the Legislature to pay the ex-
penses Of collecting tax on liquor dealers
which would have brought into the State Treas
ury, Judging from conservative estimate, over
50 900, 900. The Veddcr Liquor Tax law di-
vided liquor saloons for the purposes of taxa
ton into two classes one of which was to pay
a State tax of 81 90 and the other 50 0 yearly.
After the tax was collected in the several coun-
ties the amount thus gathered from each one
was TO be credited to it, and was 10 be applied
to reduction of an equal amount of it's State
taxation. 1t is obviously impossible to learn
Immediately the total amount Of the loss to
the several counties of the State by the Gov
ernors veto, as the statistics upon which the
estimate should be made must be gathered from
hundreds Of villages and from twenty nine
cities. Nevertheless, an approximate estimate
can be formed.
As shown by an Albany letter, printed upon
another page, information has been gathered
concerning the number and character Of the
licenses to sell liquor issued by the Boards of
Excise in sixteen of the cities of the State, and
from these statistics an estimate of value can
be made in relation to the loss the counties have
suffered by the Governors veto. These statis-
tics show that the Governor by his veto de-
prived the counties in which the sixteen cities
are situated of 81 ,526, 90 10 is easy to see
that the tax which would be collected from the
remaining cities and towns would bring up this
total to 100000. The county Of New
York, these statistics reveal, lost S642,5SO'
In the year 1888 this county received S1,43O,-
400 from liquor licenses. If the Vedder bill
had become law it is apparent that the
liquor dealers would have paid to the city year
" toward the reduction of its taxes the large
o. NJ ho nv Of
which Brooklyn would have paid the largest
proportion of the tax, lost by the veto the sum
of S310s6O. Erie County, in which Buffalo
would have paid S218,6O0, lost that amount
of money. Albany County lost S9e,44o.
The Governor doubtless still considers his
Joke good one but we question if the tax
payers of the sixty counties of the State when
they think of the two millions they have lost
by his veto will laugh as hilariousy as he is