Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1890-03-13

swered is not whether they, In fact, own
more or less personal property than
merchants, bankers and money lenders.
Ii is first, whether they own more per-
sonal property in proportion to the value
OF their land than do those other classes;
and, second, whether the particular
kinds of personal property which they
own are more easily reached by the tax
gatherer than are the kinds of property
owned by the other classes. The State
must raise certain fixed amount for
public purposes. This amount, it will
assess upon all the tax payers in pro-
portion to the value of their property
as reported by the assessors: not in pro-
portion to its real value, which the as
SCISSORS, or course, are never able exactly
to ascertain. If, therefore, experience
proves that assessors are able to find
twenty times as much land value in the
possession of merchants as they can
among farmers, but only ten times as
much personal property among mer-
chants as they find among farmers, it is
plain result, as simple as the rule of
three, that the taxation of personal
property will end in making farmers
pay larger proportion of the taxes than
they would pay if all taxes were con.
centrated on land
THE FARMERS IDEA.
Now the average farmer, no doubt,
says at once that this is impossible He
owns, we will say. 100 acres of land, and
he knows Of no merchant in any of the
great cities who owns as much as one
acre. He owns neither stock nor bonds.
and has only $500 in the bank. He
knows of 1000 merchants or money
lenders who each own 800, 900 or 81, OOO.-
900 in stocks and bonds and keep bal
ances of $50, 900 in the bank. He asserts,
therefore, that it is matter of plain
common sense that the exemption of
personal property from taxation must
increase his burden, SO as to make him
pay one hundred times as much as the
merchant and banker.
THE FARMER AND THE BANKER.
But the farmer, in reasoning thus. en-
tirely overlool1s the most important
facts of the problem, and abandons the
common sense of which he 50 much
boasts. That common sense would tell
him that, just as his 100 acres are worth
to him far more than 100, 900 acres in the
midst of Africa would be, so one-tenth
of an acre in the heart of Cincinnati is
worth more than all his farm. 1t
would also tell him that the assessor
can easily count his cattle, horses,
sheep and hogs, and estimate pretty
correctly the value of his house and
barns; whereas the most expert as
SCISSOR can never find out how many
bonds the banker owns. unless he can
persuade that banker to tell him: while
in estimating the value of the bankers
house and furniture he might guess at
: 10. 900. SO. 900 or $50. 900. with perfect
~ equal chance of being right or wrong
in either case. The banker has chairs.
standing side by side, of apparently ex-
actly equal value. but one of which cost
SO and the other $3.50. He has two
one of which is five times as
large as the other, and which the honest
farmer would, therefore, think to be five
times as valuable; whereas, in fact, the
large picture is barely worth $500, while
the small one would sell as quick as
for $4,000. There are many
houses. in large cities. upon the interior
decoration of which the owners have
each spent more than 100000. The
most experienced assessors would fail to
discover that these decorations were
really more costly than those in adjoin-
ing houses, which in fact did not cost
one-tenth of that amount.
TAXATION OF FRANCHISES.
Nor is the difficulty of this problem
to the difficulty which the as
SCISSOR finds in doing his work. Vast
amounts OF what are commonly called
personal property, and, indeed, the bulk
of those things which the average farmer
seeks to tax as personal property, con-
sist of really nothing but rights over
real estate. Thus the stock of railroad
when it has any value,
consists very largely in the land which
the company covers by its tracks, engine
houses, stations, etc; and the bonds of
such corporations represent practically
which, of course, consti-
tute a large part of the value of hojh
stocks and bonds, really consist Of moth
ing but the right to use certain tracks
Of land, to the exclusion Of all other
persons. Under any proper system of
taxation, assessed on the value Of land
alone, those franchises would be as
5essed at their full value, because the
franchise of exclusive use is all that
gives to any land its commercial value.
The system of taxation upon land values
alone would, therefore, levy taxes upon
every dollar which corporate franchises
are worth. No system of taxation on
personal property is needed in the small
est degree for this purpose. 1t is, in
venient means of evading taxation: for
the assessor, not being allowed to COM
pute this value. in estimating the value
Of the land, has to take his chances of
finding it, under the name of personal
All mortgages on land are of
course, practically, interests in the land
itself, and would be fully taxed under
system of taxation confined to the value
Of land alone. The tax may be collected
from either the mortgager or mortgage,
as the legislature should think fit.
Either plan is perfectly consistent with
the exemption of personal property from
taxation.
ACTUAL WORKING OF OHIO TAXATION.
Let US review some of the statistics
from year to year by the Off