The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1890-11-19
THE TAX COMMISSION.
Lawyer Flemming and Com.
missioner Lawrence
Give Their Views
on Taxation.
RAILROADS PAY TOO LITTLE.
Mr.. Flemming Shows How the In
dividual Suffers for the Bene-
fit Of the Railroad Cor
p0rafions.

fVlattVu1s
Barker Gummere and Attorney General
Stockton were the only members Of the
Tax Commission present this morning
when Mr. James FlemminR began 20 give
the Commissioners his views On the ex-
isting evils Of our system Of taxasion.
Mr.. Fleming said:--'sws all speak from
our own standpoint The serious WRONG
in the present system o. taxation Is thar
a large portion of valuable property
does not pay the same Eaxcg
as other property. I refer 70
the difference in rates paid BY railroads.
MY idea is that the way TO get people to
pag their taxes Is to have all taxed alike.
The great discomfort In Jersey City comes
from the great difference In rate between
railroad property and other property -
Mr. Flemmin9 iDstauced a case VIII ere
he pays S759.20 taxes on q piece OF prop
erty which produces only little income.
while piece Of property more valuable,
across the street. pays but & small tax be-
cause It belongs to a railroad.
Mr.. Flemming pointed ont OF the win-
dow Of Chancery Chambers, aud showed
the Commission the vast amount OF prop
erty the railroads own Then he went on
TO say:-"In no instance have I found
that the tax Of private individuals and 3
railroad company was alike
COME FOR BENEFIT, NOT LOVE
The New York Central comes into the
state of New jersey Mr.. ElemmlnC
went on. mot to benefit rs but itself
It's necessity and not love which brings
these railroads into this county Tne
New York Central. found il neces-
sary TO reach the south shore
andsrhe junction Road was bullt That
took strip 100 feet wide and ~ miles
long Of taxable property out Of the rat
ables Of the county. We did receive
road bought it, but now il
does not pay us a cent. when
we come to look at the taxes in Jersey
City we find that p, e67 900 worth of prop
erty has been taken out OF the ratablcs
Ali we get ont Of it is &I76. which the
State pays rs. while my little piece Of
property pays S75a There can be no
equality in that
That's the way the people OF this city
are treated. and We think it hard on as.
The junction road is main stem. It ID
the habit of the roads to build
main stems in this county. be-
cause main stems arc exempt from
miserable. 5s1TsEzisi tow Ia OF ours pu1
mainstems. Why should the main stem be
exempt When we build q house
the lot Is not exempted.
is itf Mr.. Vredenburgh and Judge
Green once said that If the other rail-
roads were taxed like individuals. the
Pennsylvania would be perfectly willing
TO pay the increased tax / seriously
doubt whether our present system OF
taxation with these exemptions Is
constitutional. You -an't tax me a high
sum on one side OF the street and exempt
the other side. That is unequal and not
uniform 1t seems 20 me the best thing
IL t1rrl lrfffc zrn ia ia
tion TO this inequality
Mr.. GUNNER asked Mr. Flemming IL
the Tax Board was generally satisfactory
70 the citixens. Mr.. Fiemming replied
that as general thing they
were doing pretty well; they had
the flush Of conscious modesty. which
spread over the faces OF Messrs- Prigge
and Lawrence, who sat behind Mr.. Flem-
ming, at this lefthanded compliment, was
sight for gods and men
MIR. Flemming then went ON to say that
about four years ago 1t was calculated
that s69, ,000, 600 had been taken out Of the
valuations Of Jersey City By exempttn9
railroad property.
GOVERNOR AWARE OF IT.
Attorney General Stockton said that he
was glad TO have the Dotnt put 80
strong as Mr.. Flemming had lzxe-
sented IT Everybody was aware or the,
called attention TO il several times- But
il worked in other ways, he continued.
In Princeton three-Tourths OF the prop
erty OF the township was exempt because
II belonged TO the college
David Lawrence next addressed the
property in Jersey CiIy.n be said. has
led me to believe that the discontent
among taxpayers Is due to the causes
mentioned by Mr.. Flemming-
With reference 10 the valua-
tions in Jersey City we don't tar
surpluses- I think they should be. but
we have an opinion from our counsel 70
the contrary. When we start 10 tax I
bank we send to the cashier for list Of
its stockholders, whom we divide into
three classy We assess all residents Of
Jersey City on the par value Of the stock.
We do not tax the building. Nothing but
the capital stock. II the capital stock
should be reduced and the surplus put
into building we could not tax IT,
In assessing real property the three
Commissioners view the property and
aim 70 assess it &C what they think il
would sell for. There Is great deal d
personal property IN Jersey City which Is
not assessed In stores and factories We
can approximate the values but
unless we have personal knowledge Of
moneys. stocks. and property Of that ma
ture, we cannot assess 1t. do not b.
lieve In exemptions. They are all wrong
and open mp the door for fraud. In my
Judgment the valuations should be fixed
once every three or i've years / would
have the value of the land fixed and that
of the improvements.
APPEALS BEFORE CONFEDERATION
81 also think we should bear appeals
before the tax levy is confirmed We may
find errors which viii cause deficiency.
which will have TO be provided for In the
next levy. ! would also have county
Board of Assessors who knew tho values
OF the property.
Mr.. Lawrence made . favorable I'm
preston uron Mr. Gummore, and wAD
profusely thanked for the pearls OF taxs-
lion wisdom which he bad scattered
Mr.. Jacob Weart made . plea fer Tho
exemption from taxation Of muuicipa1
bonds held by Savings Banks and pre-
dicted that If the exemption wns not
allowed the banks would have 70 90 ont
Of business.
John W. Jakeusy, who next spoke. said
that he was what is known rs nslcGle TN
crank He lad discussion with III.
Gummere on the principles Of thc
single tax doctrine. and 1GId
thar he wouid suggest = ~
commission that II re<onmend< Inw
published in .Wo or three neWfpap4r1 ~
whether he WAS taxed more th1n ~
neignbor- Mr. JakeWAY declared 111<
this would be good na{ of doing 9x1x
with much Of the inequality q t1x1<l11
from political fax9r a'd o<ne< eIu|lek