The Colfax chronicle., 1890-05-24

possessing some personal property.
Every tax payer, without exception, IL
an occupant Of land and Improvements
upon land, and an owner OF personal
property. The only selfish interest
which any tax payer has in deciding be-
tween rival systems Of taxation, is to
know which will produce . sufficient
revenue to the State With tie smallest
possible burden to him. In considering,
therefore, the interest Of any class, such
as farmers, the real question to be an
swered is not whether they, in fact, own
more or less personal property than
merchants, bankers and money lenders.
1t is first, whether they own more per-
sonal property in proportion to the value
of their land than do those other classes;
and, second, whether the particular
kinds Of personal property which they
own are more easily reached by the tax
gatherer than are the kinds Of property
owned by the other classes. The State
must raise certain fixed amount for
public purposes. This amount, 1t will
assess upon all the tax payers in pro-
portion to the value Of their property
as reported by the assessors; not in pro-
portion to its real value, which the as
SCISSORS. OF course, are never able exactly
to ascertain. If, therefore, experience
proves that assessors are able to find
twenty times as much land value in the
possession Of merchants as they can
among farmers, but only ten times ~
much personal property among mer
chants as they find among farmers, it is
plain result, as simple as the rule Of
three, that the taxation of personal
property will end in making farmers
pay larger proportion OF the taxes than
they would pay if all taxes were con-
centrated on land.
THE FARMERS IDEA.
Now the average farmer, NO doubt,
says at once that this isimpossible. He
owns, we will say, 100 acres of land, and
he knows of no merchant in any Of the
great cities who owns as much as one
acre. He owns neither stock nor bonds,
and has only $500 in the bank. He
knows OF 1000 merchants or money
lenders who each own 500, 900 or 81 ,0OO,-
o0o in atoc,e and hcrd. .ra Laa,, nj
.nces Of sso ooo ~ the h.rk ne .sserts
therefore that g. is a mater - ,,1.,n
common sense that the exemption Of
personal property from taxation must
increase his burden 40 .s r. mata him
nav ono bnndrad time. =. ,r,os :. ~.
merchant and banker
THE SAhAEh AND THE BANKER.
But the farmer. in reasoning thus, en-
tirely overlooks the most important
facts Of the problem, and abandons the |
common sense of which he 80 much |
boasts. That common sense would tell |
him that, just as his 100 acres are worth |
to him far more than 100, 900 acres In the /
midst Of Africa would be. so one-tenth
Of an acre in the heart Of Cincinnati is !
worth more than all his farm. II
would also tell him that the assessor
can easily count his cattle, horses,
sheep and hogs, and estimate pretty !,
the value Of his house and |
barns; whereas the most expert as
SCISSOR can never ma out how many |
oonds the banker owns, unless he can
persuade that banker to tell him; while
ln estimating the value OF the bankers
house ana furniture he might guess at
1000, $4,000 or $50, 600, with perfect
y equal chance OF being right or wrong
in either case. The banker has chairs,
standing side by side, of apparently ex-
lctly equal value, but one Of which cost
S2S and the other $3.50. He has two
paintings, one of which fs five times aa
arge as the other, and which the honest
armer would therefore, think to be i've
ames a. valuable; whereas, tn fact, the
arge picture Is barely worth $500, while
he small one would sell as quick as
lightning for $4,000. There are many
houses, IN large cities, upon the interior
decoration of which the owners have
,ach Suent more than 4100 000 The