Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-12-29
TAXATION DISCUSSED.
Second Day of the Meeting Of the America,
Economic Association.

Economic Association.
PROF. sxLIanAN READS A PAPER on 1.-THE MOI
DENcE OF LOCAL TAXATION" AND ME-. T. =.
sHEARMXN ONE on "cRooKKD rAxArIox'-xKw
NaNBERs OF THE COUNCIL ELECTED.
A large attendance of members marked the
opening session this morning in the hall of the
Columbian University building of the second
days meeting Of the American Economic Asso-
citation. The hall contained a considerable
number Of the representative writer's Of the
country on economic topics in addition to
the members, and there were many visitors
who displayed their interest in the subjects dis
cusscd by their attention to the proceedings.
Topics discussed all related to taxation.
LOCAL TAXATION OF REAL ESTATE.
President Walker called the ASSOCIATION to
order shortly after 10 O'Clock, and Prof. Edwin
R. A. Selgman of Columbia College, New York,
read a paper on ''The incidence Of local taxa
ton" He said that the question Of incidence
Of taxation has been called the squaring Of
des Of RG %h sSs ny
cidence Of the local real estate tax
in the two branches-thc land tax and the tax
on city real estate. In city real estate, he said,
there may be four systems; first tax on the
ground owner-the single tax idea: second, q
tax on the house owner-the continental sys-
tenn; third, a tax on the ground owner, who is
! at the same time the house owner-the Ameri-
can system, and fourth, q tax on the occupier
the English system. A tax on the ground
| owner, the speaker said, can never be shifted.
TAXES ON HOUSES.
A tax on the house owner, he said, il il be q
special tax, will remain on the building owner
when popu'ation increases or is stationary. 1t
will be shit d on the ground owner only in
certain exec tonal cases. 1t will be shifted on
| the occupif in the normal condition of adj
vance in economic welfare. If it is not an ex-
elusive tax only SO much will be transferred to
the occupier as exceeds the usual rate for other
property. The remainder will fall on the
| house owner In proportion as the general
property tax is practically real property tax
and az the value Of the house generally exceeds
that Of the lot.
THE MAIN BURDEN ON THE POOR.
The main burden of the tax under actual con-
ditions of increasing prosperity, he said, is
shifted to the occupiers. The property tax in
American cities is in the main borne by those
least able to pay. A tax levied on the Occupier
will rest as to the building rent portion almost
entirely on the occupier. and as to the ground
rent part will fall to some extent on the occu-
pier BY far the larger portion of the tax is
borne by The tenant. The English system, he
said, Is even more unfavOrabie to the occupier
than the American.
The speaker showed that q tax on economic
rent. all writer's are agreed, will fall on the land
owner and cannot be shifted. tax on agri-
some have supposed will be shifted. But the
Ricardian theory holds good only on the as
sumption of the absolute mobility of capital
and the complete isolation of the community.
In practical life, he said, these assumptions are
untrue. The land tax will tend to rest on the
land owner, not the consumer.
CROOKED TAXATION"
Tho noxf the cuhiort ~
"Crooked Taxation" by Mr.. T. J. Sherman
The names under which taxation of various
forms exist, he said. have great deal to do
with their popularity and in some instances
their existence. The term indirect taxation"
has a not unpleasing sound, as there is nothing
in it suggestive Of fraud, oppression or in
equality.
On the other hand, CROOKED taxation" has a
very unpleasant sound and it would be hard to
make it the cry of a popular movement
and yet, asked the speaker liz it not a far more
accurate definition Of the thing that is really
meant by the other name? In nearly all ma
tions there exists a system of taxation which
bears certain uniform characteristics under
which the taxes are paid to the government
by persons who are authorized and
expected to recover the amount from
some one else, with interest and profit, on
which limit is placed by law. No one can
tell the precise amount actually contributed
to the support Of government by any one per-
son under this system, nor how much Of that
paid by the final taxpayer goes to the
support Of government how much into
the private purse of the individuals
A large part of the final tax is always perverted
to private use, whil' often nine .tenths and even
nineteeL.-twentieths is thus perverted. Thus
private property is forcibly taken for private
use, an operation which every court in civilized
countries declares in so many words to be
ROBBERY UNDER THE FORMS OF Law.
The amount Of the tax has only q remote
connection with the actual needs Of the govern
ment, being often either much more or much
less. The taxpayers often pay lighter tax
for several years together under an extravagant
and even corrupt government than they pay
under one vigorously economical and honest
This, being inherent in the system, is no acct
dent. The pressure of such taxation, there
fore, has almost no effect in educating
the people to demand or appreciate good gov
eminent. The more wisely and honestly such
| a system is administered the more popular
does it make public extravaganza and the more
unpopular public economy. Under such a sys-
tenn q few persons make large profits and
easily concentrate their power to perpetuate
and extend it in such form as more and more
to diminish the proportion Of revenue which
goes to the public use and to increase the pro-
portion in which it is diverted to private use
Under such o system those who thus profit
acquire ''vested interest" interference with
which is regarded by multitudes of honest and
unseinsn men as sOmetnlnS pOsluVely wicked,
and the right to live by robbery grows to be
not merely equal, but even superior, to the
right to live by work. The right Of work is rec
ognized by law or public opinion, while the right
| Of robbery is not. At first, under this system,
the abandonment by honest men Of honest work
for legalized robbery is a merely incidental
force, but finally it becomes intentional and
deliberate.
The whole burden of such taxes rests upon
consumption, and not at all upon wealth. The
Nrxfp ntpral In nv,t1 fHx
| support of government and draws taxes only
ton to their expenses.
THE LOAD on THE POOR.
Since the expenses Of the very poor are
hundred times as large, in proportion to their
means, as those Of the very rich, he said, these
taxes bear with hundred fold severity upon
the former class. On the average the poor pay
ten times their proper share Of taxes The
| system also generally, though not inva-
riably, adds to the cost of supporting the
government private profit large to far
| exceed the'whole amount Of taxes paid by the
| rich as a class. the whole Of which goes to a
| portion of the richer class, thus exempting
| them from ali taxation and giving them a large
| net profit from the very fact of taxation.
| MAKES THE RICH RICHER AND THE POOR POORER.
The tendency Of this method of taxation, he
said, is, therefore. ~ to make the rich richer
and the poor poorer; (2) to shift the burden Of
taxation from those best able to bear it to those
| eXtravaganccs of government by making the
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