Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1890-06-21
THE WEEKLY UNION
INEQUALITIES OF TAXATION


property more.
The aim Of the Convention was wise,
but its delivery was poor. Tha. which ii
desires is not the greater taxation of per-
sonal property. but such enforcement OF
the present revenue laws as will make per-
sonal property bear its due burden of taxa
ton by as full disclosure and assessment as
obtain in the case of land.
We may not in any State expect the
establishment of a system Of taxation so
symmetrical as to be without fault.
Human devices never have and never will
attain perfection. The fact is notorious in
California, for instance, that large pro-
portion of personal property secretes itself.
and the remainder is not taxed at its cash
value as defined by the Constitution and
the laws. Land, on the other hand, cannot
be hidden, and while it may be improperly
assessed, it cannot wholly escape as does so
much of personal property. Herein is
found the defect of our system, that it is
wanting in means to compel the disclosure
and the proper assessment OF personally.
If we are to believe the assessment rolls
when the Assessor appears an immense
amount of stock, money, goods, household
furniture, articles of personal adornment,
musical instruments, etc, either suddenly
disappear or marvelously depreciate in
value. Works of art lose all distinctive
values on these occasions, and Da Nincis,
Murrillos and Correggios come down to the
level of the pot boilers from the auction
rooms.
We assert without fear of contradiction
that there are hundreds of thousands of
dollars worth of rare art works on pri-
vate walls in the city of San Francisco
that have never been listed for taxation
except in the job lot pictures of the
assessment blank, with small lump sum
carried out in the dollars and cents col.
umn. But the most obscure poor mans
lot of alley frontage rushes into the arms
of the Assessor and ranks itself among the
possessions Of high value.
There is, besides, large class of per.
sonal property that wholly escapes, that
never has representation by figures upon
the assessment roll This nearly always
belongs to the rich and the well-to-do
classes of society, while the cheap furni-
ture and plain hardwood chairs and pine
tables and dressing-case of the poor man
are listed in lump sums, that in very many
cases would buy the whole lot aud leave a
handsome margin. We are now, of ne
cessity, speaking in generalities, for only
searching inquisition could disclose the
specific cases.
In the State of Ohio this fact is recog-
nized by the law, which offers high re-
ward for information that will lead to the
disclosure of personal property that may
be hidden from the Assessors, and as
penalty puts a heavy additional tax upon
such disclosed personal property. In
Ohio, which, as the Inter Ocean asserts, is
not twice as rich as Illinois, personal prop
erty is listed to the assessed value of $780,
17l,094, while in Illinois, where there is
neither reward nor penalty, but 1921, 1885,
COS of personally is discovered by the
Assessors.
Such law, though not probably the
best that can be devised, in operation in
California as in Ohio would unquestion-
ably disclose more than SAT-, $40 value of
jewelry and plate in San Francisco, and
more than 1854 watches worth assessing,
in that city. Sacramento claims but about
one-ninth as great population as San Fran
cisco, yet we find that her people, accord
ing to assessment returns, carry about one
fourth as many valuable watches.
But in this single item the distinction
between the apparent luxurious habits of
Oakland and Alameda towns, with 10000
population, and their people carrying 7,425
watches, as against 1884 carried by the
$4,000 inhabitants Of the metropolis, is
something amazing.
If we go into further examination we
find that every piano in Sacramento is
assessed SIS in excess of piano valuations
in Alameda; that Sacramento with one
ninth of the population Of San Francisco,
is assessed for one.ffth, plus, as many fire.
arms as the metropolis, and for about
double the number owned in Alameda
county, with nearly twice as many people
within her bounds, while FL Dorado, with
her few hundred people, pays as heavy a
tax, in gross, on such implements as Ala
media with twelve times the population.
1t is ludicrously absurd to suppose as
the assessment roll declares is fact, that
the harness, robes, saddles, etc, in Ala
media are worth but S1S,652, while like
property in Sacramento is found to the
the value of S5S,765, and that in all San
Francisco such goods are worth but Sl2l,-
2s7. That there are discovered in San
Francisco only about twice the number of
vehicles that are found in Sacramento is
ridiculous, but is made apparently true by
the official records, while the value of all
the equipages in the metropolis exceeds
the value of those IN Sacramento by but
about two-thirds.
But these are the mere fringes of absurd-