Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1890-03-06
The Farmer and the Single Tax

In considering, therefore, the interest
of any class. such as farmers, the real
question to be answered 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 personal property in
proportion to the value of their land
than do those other classes; and. Sec
ond. whether the particular kinds of
personal property which they own are
more easily reached by the ax-gatherer
than are the kinds of property owned
by the other classes. The State must
raise a certain fixed amount for public
purposes. This amount it will assess
upon all taxpayers. in proportion to
| their value as reported by the assessors;
not i'll proportion to its real value.
which the assessors. of course. are
never able exactly to ascertain. If,
therefore, experience proves that as
SCISSORS are able to find twenty times rs
much land-value in the possession of
merchants as they can among farmers,
but only ten times as much personal
property among merchants as they find
among farmers. it is a plain result, as
simple as the rule of three, that the
taxation of personal property will end
in making farmers pay larger pro-
portion of the taxes than they would
pay If all taxes were concentrated on
lind.
Now. the average farmer no doubt
says at once that this is impossible.
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 !, 200 merchants or money
lenders who each own 100000 or
$1,000, 600 in stocks and bonds. and
keep balances of $4,000 in bank. He
asserts, therefore, that it is a matter OF
plain common sense that the exemption
of personal property from taxation
must increase his burden, SO rs to
make him pay 100 times as much as
the merchant and banker. 5sEg
THE FARMER AND THE BANKER. IL
But the farmer, in reasoning thus,
entirely overlooks the most important
facts of the problem, and abandons the
common sense of which he so much
boats. That common sense would tell
him that, just rs his 100 acres are
worth to him far more than 100000
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
assessor can easily count his cattle,
horses. sheep and hogs, and estimate
pretty correctly the value of his house
and barns; whereas the most expert
assessor can never find out how many
bonds the banker owns, unless he can
persuade that banker to tell him; while
in estimating the bankers house aud
furniture he might guess at $4,000,
$685. 900 or $4,000, with a perfectly
equal chance of being right or wrong
in either case. The banker has chairs,
standing side by side, apparently of
exactly equal value. but one of which
cost $25 and the other $3.50. He has
two paintings, one of which il five
times as large as the other. and which
the honest farmer would, therefore,
think to be five times as valuable;
whereas. in fact. the large picture is
barely worth $500. while the small one
would sell as quick as lightning for
500, 1000. There are many houses in
large cities upon the interior decoration
of which the owners have each spent
more than 500, 600. The most expe-
rienced assessors would fail TO discover
that these decorations were really more
costly than those in adjoining houses.
which, in fact did not cost one-tenth of
that amount.