The weekly tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1891-1894, 1891-11-14

property only bring exempted. II fur
ther provides that a license tax NAV b,
imposed on persons and corporation
doing business in the state. This latte
provision was. as you all remember
thoroughly discussed and was incorpo
rated into the constitution in order t.
allow a license tax upon all corporation,
operating under franchises and which
are in their nature monopolies. And il
his connection it is to be hoped tina
early legislation will be had looking tt
! the imposition of a proper tax under this
provision. But licenses upon business
in which there is true competition and
which deal with the necessities of life
are burdcnsome and inequitable and con
trary to the principles of equity of sac
ritice. No such license is eXcusablc OK,
cept as a regulating measure. \. fla
grant violation of the principle of equity
is found. too, in W road tax and poor
tax. which are levied alike on all persons
irrespective of their ability to pay, and
which. In the language of the constitu-
ton OF Ohio, are ''gricvous and Cypress
i've In my opinion our legislature
should repeal these taxes at its first SEES
sion.
The crying evil Of our whole tax law is
the unequal assessment and non-assess-
ment of both real and personal property,
but especially the latter. According to
the theory all taxes are supposed to be
levied on all classes of property at a val
uation fixed by the assessor. As the
contribution OF each political unit is
propOrtiOned to the amount of taxable
nrnrnrfNv prIfhtn If- ln,,t, a.. .-
of the older states has been that there is
a motive for the local assessor, as well as
for the individual property-owner, TO
place the lowest possible valuation on
the property, be it real or personal. and
the evil is only partially cured by the
boards of equalization.
Still more serious is the evil arising
from the fact, that a large part of the
taxable property escapes taxation. 1t is
usually the case that the larger part of
the rich mans wealth consists of notes.
stocks, bonds, mortgages, money and
credits, classes OF property which are so
easily concealed. that it is simply impos-
slble to get even an approximate valuation
OF them. The Connecticut tax commits
sion found that the proportion of these
intangible securities to other kinds Of
'"Hu'i' Pi'BtltN bdu Sltd0tllt tttTttStu
from lSJ) when they constituted 10 per
cent OF the taxable property, to 1850
when they constituted apparently only
~ per cent. Yet during that time the
actual amount of these securities held bv
citizens of Connecticut had enormously
increased. In New York, in spite of the
fact that between 1871 and 1854 the
actual amount Of personal property in
tho Stafa bod nr,np,,.,cI,, ;,l "
assessment showed a shrinkage of over
800 100000.
Our WI state is too young to furnish
data for such comparisons. Yet glarine
inequalities are manifest even here. The
assessment rolls for the present year
show that ten counties make no return
Of state, county and other bonds, while
the other six make returns of S1.5OO,OOO.
One county makes no return of jewelrv
or plate. Six counties return fire arms
valued at 100000. while ten make no re-
turn. One of the oldest and largest
counties in the state does not return a
dollars worth of merchandise, though
the other counties average 100000 each.
But one county returns the net proceeds
OF its mines, and this is not the greatest
mining county in the state either. Two
counties fail to return any farming i'm
plements and one does not list any ma
chinery. The assessment of stock,cattle
varies from Sll to SIG per head and
sheep from SLIGO to $3.50 per head.
Hall the counties make no return
of grain. Two fail to list anv
money on hand. Eight counties show
no solvent credits, though the other
eight appear to have over 100000 in
fhlO kInd nf ppnnnrfNy Hon..
appear to have no mortgages. though
the others return nearly s9.O0O,OOO. The
same inequality is found with every
species OF property. These figures illus
trate the double character of the evil in
our W state. While in many cases the
assessment is unequal because of the
ol.-assessment of certain classes of
property, in other cases the inequality
arises from the excessive assessment of
such property as lie listed, the excess I'M
doubleday being due to our peculiar sys-
tenn OF paying the assessors q percentage
on the gross valuation OF the property in
their districts.
These facts all 60 to show that no sys-
tenn OF taxation where personality is an
important and leading class of the tax
able property can be equitable. Another
and more serious difficulty arising from
the same source is the custom, 80 gener-
al among assessors, Of undertaking the
property Of the wealthy class. For in
stance, property actually worth 100000
will be assessed at a half or even a third
Of it's value. On the other hand, the
man OF small means pays taxes on nearly
the full value of his property.
These facts illustrate not only the in
equality and Injustice inherent in a mar
sonal property tax, but also explain in a
great measure the bitterness of the feel
ing which the laboring man entertains
towards the capitalist, much of whose
wealth escapes taxa lion, while the former
pays for nearly every cent he owns. 1t
is a fact, too, that in nearly all states IN