St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-02-27

during tlO5e periods there was an in
crease of hundreds of millions of dol
lars. The New York Times of July Z,
1885, said: There is no doubt that
twenty-five men i'll the city could be
named whose wealth i'll personal prop
erty alone exceeds the entire valuation
of that class of property as shown in
the assessment rolls" In 1887 [ clipped
from a leading New York journal an
article stating that the will of w. III.
Vanderbilt showed he, in his lifetime,
had S25,000,000 of taxable bonds
that were not assessed. The
New York assessors in 1881 in
their report after stating that personal
property (other than banking capital)
was assessed at less than 10 per cent of
its nominal value; added, WHO pays
the taxes on personal property? The
answer to the question is to be found in
the assessment rolls of the cities and
towns, and is disgraceful to the COM
monwealth; women, heirs, executors,
administrators, guardians, trustees, and
persons of unsodnd mind are assessed
beyond all measure of justice" OF
course, every one will understand that
when any one class bears less than its
share OF the burden, some other class
must suffer more than its share. Every
dollar of tax that the wealthy holders of
personal property evadeS is added to
the tax of others. 1t cannot be neces-
sary to add further proof of the fact
that the personal property of the
wealthy men in New York is in practice
nearly exempt from taxation And it will
be found that this is not peculiar to
that state Prof. Ely, one of the pro-
fessors of political economy in John
Hopkins University, who has given
much attention to this subject and from
whose book on taxation | have taken
many of the facts ana figures here
given, says that having visited Wiscon-
SIN to inquire into the workings of its
system Of taxation, a gentleman Of
prominence in that state said to him: :
~ on see in me monument of the ini-
guilty of our present system of taxation :;
when was poor and struggling young
man with five OF six hundred dollars
worth of personally paid on all that L
had; now that | really have something,
| keep still and pay taxes only OH part
of my property. Indeed, when | think
about taxation in our states and cities
feel like turning anarchist and blowing
things up with dynamite"
The West Virginia tax commissioners
made report in 1884 in which they say {:
ut is primary principle that subjects
of a state ought to contribute towards
the support OF the government as nearly
as possible in proportion to their re-
Spective abilities; but it will be seen be-
lore these reports are concluded that in
West Virginia almost the reverse is the
case. and man of small means pays as
a rule more in proportion than man of
large means. At present all the
taxes from invisible property come
from few conspicuously conscientious
citizens, from widows, executors, and
from guardians Of the insane and in
fants. In fact it is comparatively rare
thing to find a shrewd trader who gives
in very considerable amount of notes,
stock or money. The truth is things
have come to Sueh condition in West
Virginia that as regards paying taxes on
this class of property it is almost as vol
untary, and is considered pretty much
in the same light as donation to the
neighbOring church or Sunday school"
A tax committee appointed in Con-
necticut in 1887, in its report, said as to
the taxation or personal property: las
the law stands 1t may be burden upon
the conscienees of many, but it is bur-
den on the property of the teW-not be-
cause there are few who ought to pay,
but because there are few who can be
made to pay. Bonds aud notes belong
ing to estates Of deceased persons or in
fants are generally traced through the
probate records and brought into the
tax lists; but those held by an indi-
vldual are for the most part concealed
from the knowledge of the assessors :;
nor do they in most towns make much
effort to ascertain their existence. The
result is that in a few towns few eS
rates and few persons Of high sense of
honesty bear the entire weight of the
tax" Such has been the universal re-
suit Of similar laws elsewhere.
A tax commission of the state Of
Maryland in 1881 propounded this ques-
ton to the appeal tax court of BaIti-
more. TO what extent do you succeed
in reaching investments made by resi-
dents of this state in private securities
OF any kind" The answer was, I'VE
utterly fail in reaching private securi-
ties of every description. Here and
there only have they been returned by
some conscientious holder"
A revenue commission of the state of
Illinois in 1886 reported that large
P1OPOlttOtt VI tLlC COCdpGu
taxation. They added, 1.-The discrim-
nations in favor of personal property
against realty are glaring and unjust,
amounting in some species OF the former
class to an almost total escape from tax
alton. For instance, for the year 1884,
in Cook county, containing the great
and wealthy city of Chicago, the total
valuation of credits of banks, bankers,
brokers, etc., was S9S,6l5. Credits
of others than banks, bankers,
brokers', ETC., was 5000, 1853. Shares
of capital stock Of corporations not of
the state was 500. Truly it cannot be
necessary to cite farther proof of the
fact that our present system of taxation
is-to use the language applied to in
come tax by its opponents, unequal, un-
just, and oppressive to the poor, letting
the rich go free"
To show the workings of this fax sys-
tenn in our state we cannot refer to Off
cial reports, for our state has taken little
care to expose this class of dishonesty.
But from my own observation and inves-
tigatiOn-and have FOR the past few
years given this subject no little
thought and attention. have 90 hest
fancy in saying that our rich holders Of
personal property have not been whit
DeninQ In0Se III 0tnef states III enter
prise in this direction. | doubt whether
there is state in the union in which,
in proportion to the wealth, this in
iQuity has been more gener-
ally or more successfully prac-
tieed. From my own observation
and investigation | unhesitatiugIy
declare that the masses of the taxpayers
of our state have thus been cheated out
of millions of dollars. One thing must
be clear to any honest, intelligent OBJ
server and student of our system of tax
alton as practically administered; that
it must be radically changed or else we
may as well cease to go through the
farce of seeming, or attempting, to tax
the personal property of our wealthy
4 men. The only question is what other
System shall we adopt?
E But though this be conceded, | admit
that 1t does not follow that the taxation
tof incomes would be more equal or just,
sbut shall briefly state why 1t seems so
TO me.
The man who has good income.
without Inconvenience or sacrifice, can
and in Justice should contribute literally