The Portland daily press., 1890-09-20

WtniOl who were frank with me In their expression
W oplnlon. There was, naturally a wide diver
6odU netWeen their various estimates; but no
sway GAINED that more than a comparatively
reached N the large cities, while it was gener.
any Il not unanimously, held that the larger the
reached One successful business II man. well as
9ualnted with different parts of the stne. est.
mated the personal property taxed In SolnmD ,a
tne amount reached in Cincinnati az a con
sideraoly smaller percentage On the 9lhsr
onS sS Of pfSr% s% Raa
s t reached wSS
| practical experience. probably knows as much
about taxation as any one in Ohio, and was, told
| masses of property; that The burdens OF govern
ment rested on the poorer ana middle classes and
| that the wealthy escaped lawyer Of. standing
| In Columbus who holds estates In trust for sever
al parties, says that whenever he goes to the tax
onice TO pay lakes, he fees capable OF committing
ROBBERY arson, and murder, because ne Is obliged
TO pay lakes on the full value Of estates of two,
three and TOUR thousand dollars, belonging 10
llStle orphan children. whereas he sees wealthy
knows they are worth. After lengthy CONVEX
sation with gentleman who was once an oIlclai,
and had served long in one of the tax departments
of Ohio, said, sit seems TO me from what you
say there Is not a wealthy man IN the state OF
trueD j do not wish 10 make any assertion Of the
kind. 1 simply quote what heard, as an evidence
OF wide spread uem0fallZatl0n.
Now here is the testimony Of disinteiest-
ed observer, whose only purpose was to
get at the facts Of the workings of scheme
Identical with the one which it is proposed
TO introduce into Maine. And the facts are
these: The great majority of personal prop
erty is not returned; the larger the place the
smaller the return; the wealthy largely es-
cape and the burdens are imposed on the
poorer and middle classes; trust funds for
the support Of widows and orphans are gen
orally taxed to their full amount; every
wealthy man In the state is a perjurer; and
there is widespread decentralization. What one
of the evils that we see In Maine today under
our existing system Of taxation is removed
or even ameliorated by this law of Ohio which
1t is proposed to adopt in this state? 1t is
alleged that large part of the personal prop
erty owned in this state is concealed. The
governor of Ohio says the great majority of
that kind of property in his state is con.
esaled. We complain in Maine that the cities
do not bear their fair share of taxation be-
cause there personal property that is con-
cealable is largely to be found. Precisely
the same complaint is made In Ohio.
In Columbus not more that 20 per cent.
of personal property is taxed and in
Cincinnati even less. We complain in Maine
that the wealthy escape their just proportion
Of taxation. A distin guished lawyer in Column
bus says he feels capable of committing rob-
berry, murder and arson when he goes to the
tax Office and pays taxes on the full values
ofIsmall estates held In trust for little orphan
children and sees his clients paying on only
ten or fifteen per cent Of what he knows
they are worth. Has single one of the
evils complained of in Maine been allie
Waited by this inquistorial tax law of Ohio?
On the other hand, have they not all been
intensified Certainly it has !done moth
ing to discover concealed personal prop
srty or equalize taxation. But while it has
lone no good in this direction 1t has done IN
harm In another By offering a
premium for false swearing and imposing
penalty for truthfulness, it has tempted ev-
anybody in Ohio who has any personal prop
,rty to perjure himself, and apparently q
considerable per cent.of the people have yield
ID to the temptation. Does anybody suppose
that human nature in Maine is any differ
snt from human nature in Ohio, and that the
same temptation here will not work the same
result as there, and that the widespread de-
which has been brought about
among the taxpayers Of Ohio can be averted
In Maine? The demoralizing effect of requir-
Ing men to swear to their property was
long ago recognized In Europe. Prussia
does net permit oaths at all. and in England
they are required only in exceptional cases.
The remarks of the Illinois revenue commits
sion on the subject are sound and peril
nent. 1--WE believe" say the commission.
"such requirements to be debauching to the
conscience and subyersive of public morals
a school of perjury provided by law" Is the
state of Maine anxious to start school of
perjury? Ii so there is no doubt it can do it
by adopting this Ohio plan. recommended by
the tax commission. There is no doubt too
that 1t will turn out great many apt schol-