The Portland daily press., 1890-09-25


Georgia, who is compelled to ''solemnly
swear that he has carefully read Tor has
heard read, and has duly considered the
questions propounded in the foregoing tax
list, and that the value placed by him on
the property returned. as shown by said list
is at the true market value" and to flu, Their
"solemnly swear that he has returne for
the purpose of being taxed thereon, every
species of property that he owns in his own
right. or has conarol Of" And then, after
he had pondered this oath until he was thor
oughly saturated with its truth compelling
power, we should direct his attention to the
instructions of the comptroller general of the
State in 1886. in which that officer repeatedly
points out that large portion Of properly
either entirely escapes taxation or is not as
sessed at its true value. But the ''sad lack
of candor" Ct this testimony would of course
lmmedietely discredit it in Mr.. Dement'S
opinion. 1t fortunately happens, however,
that Mr.. Dement'S view of this testimony and
his method of disproving it are not conclusive
upon the public on whom it must finally rest
to determine our method of taxation. They
may conclude 1t is worth considering, not
withstanding he does not, and 1t is there
fore to the public that the PRESS would
address itself in the remainder of what it
has to say on the subject.
1t is incumbent upon reformers first to prove
that evils exist, and second that the remedies
that they propose will alleviate If not cure
them, or If not to prove it, at least to show
reasonable probability that their remedies
will be effective. The disease in this case is
inequality Of taxation by reason of the con-
cealment by Its owners Of certain kinds of
property. We admit the existence of the
disease, though we believe 1t is less violent
here than is frequently supposed. The
only question is then, Have Mr.. bennett and
his fellow reformers found remedy? Mr..
bennett tells us that his proposed law is
intended specially to get after the "tax
dodgers" people whom he defines as moral
thieves, and who have been pursuing moral
thieving for many years. Mr.. bennett con-
ceives that If these moral thieves can only
be put on oath they will cease to be moral
thieves, and Immediately become upright
and conscientious people turning over to the
tax assessor their property to the utmost
farthing. The transition from moral
thieves to moral liars is so natural and easy
that MIR. bennett can hardly expect that the
moral effect of the oath is likely to transform
these men into truthful and conscientious
persons. Doubtless what he anticipates is
that the moral thieves will be scared
into uprightness by the pains and pen
alties of perjury. Certainly the testi-
mony of the Governor of Ohio does not in
dictate that the soaring power hes been at
tended with great success in that state. And
the testimony of the comptroller of Georgia
shows that it has not been much more effec.
tive in that state. We have no direct testi-
mony at hand as to its operation in Massa-
chusetts. but the valuation of Boston in 1886
credited some three times as much to real
estate as to personal property. A much
smaller disproportion in Portland Mr.. Den
nett regards as conclusive evidence that
large amounts of personal property escape
the assessor. 1t is simply puerile to expect
to scare the tax dodger by threat of legal
punishment for he knows perfectly well that
the threat is an empty one. Search the
country through and we don't believe that a
single case can be found where person was
ever punished, except by doom, for under
estimating the amount of his property.
AS matter of fact the tax-dodgers, the
moral thieves, as Mr.. bennett calls them,
will be least affected by. his law, and the
men Of small property, who generally pay
about all the tax they ought to the most.
The "tax dodger" is generally person of
considerable property; for if he were liable to
only a small tax there would be little motive
for lodging. He is shrewd, enterprising,
aud adroit. He makes business of famil-
iarizing himself with all methods of evasion.
When new law is passed he Immediately
begins to study it with view of continuing
some device by which he may escape it. His
first impulse never is to obey it If obedience
tends to add to his burdens, but to escape it
The first impulse of the small property
holder. who is little likely to be familiar
with the ways of the world and is always
timid lest he may lose the little he has accu-
mulated slowly and laboriously, is to obey
the law. The law always appears more ma
1estic to him than to the man who is familiar
with the way in which the law is made and
influential with the men who execute it, He
will be the man to be scared into making
complete disclosure of everything he owns
by Mr.. Dement'S proposed law. not the art
ful tax dodger. This is not mere specula-
tton. 1t is proved by experience. 1t it is in
the great cities of Ohio where the largest
proportion OF personal property escapes tax
alton. And there are found the shrewd
and adroit in largest proportion. AS
the place gets smaller the proportion of
personal property which escapes grows
smaller, simply because the number OF the
shrewd and adroit grows smaller
and the number of men of small means
who have accumulated their property by
patient toll grows larger. This is true
IL every State, no matter how ironclad the
bath, that we have been able to procure evil
ience In regard to. Sin Wisconsin," says
Prof. Ely. personal property is not
reached, especially not in large places, and
Sill more especially in cases of men of large
means. / was told that in a city like
hlpon a small cityI most of the personal
property was reached, in Madison less; and
~ milwaukee, still less. The great cities es-
oapo .ne personal tax to a more considerable
.n Nv, Imam the smaller cities and villages.
Iy'1I sun more than in rural districts" West
Virginia mas the listing law. oath and all and
f,ar I'd - az. '.s recent tax commission in re-
So 49, o oonultlon of things theres This.
one CLASS constantly schemes 70 sbift oa
on nelghbor some burdens uh;oh ..o
themselves ought to carry; the otho~ my
unskiled in the practices of evasion 'i .r claSS,
10 Whatever is measured out to then hn .ha
recognized authorities, and pay whatevsr 'uo
demanded. ~ At present all the taxaS
from invisible property come from a fau'
conspicuously conscientious citizens from
widows, executors, and from guardiano 30
the insane and infants; in fact, it ia oono
paratively rare thing to find shrewd traan.
who gives in any considerable amopnt ~
notes. stock or money" The tau dodrooa
continue to dodge just as effectuallv 1i.,'
the oath as without it. The moral effect ~
the oath has been to quicken the conscjon
ces of those only not particularly
in need of 1t, while the, pains and
penalties attached to it operate AL
most eEtitely upon the timid small property
holder The tax dodger is affected by neither.
80, while the contentious man and the
timid small property holder may be stimu-
lated by the oath to make their return more
accurate and more adequate, the shrewd and
adreit tax dodgers, the men Mr.. bennett is
cunning for acoopac a boForo Hapoa rroro