The Colfax chronicle., 1891-10-10

a REPusLlcAN DIRECT TAxER.

OxNQ1E lAA UEf fAAI
A REPUBLICAN, DIRECT TAxER
The Daily Press, of Paterson, is the
republican organ of Passaic county, bui
its advocacy of the tariff does not close
its eyes to the evils of levying Local
taxes on the products of labor The
following editorial article. in the issue
OF the Press of June 10. nearly took the
breath away from the local single taz
men:
One reason which commends the
single tax idea to great many people
is its simplicity. Another is its GER
tainty of collection. Under the present
system the taxing of personal property
is OF necessity humbug. Such prop
erty assumes Thousand shapes. It il
intangible, elusive, deceptive, much of
it non-valuable, except by an expert
and it is a fruitful source of fraud,
cheating and lying, and. therefore. .
corrupter of the public morals The
thing to be aimed at is to make every
taxpayer, somehow, bear his fair share
of the burden of supporting the state
and locality where he lives That this
Is not done now is notorious And IL is
equally certain that il it were done,
the burden of all honest Taxpayers
would be lightened. as the public rat
ables would be enormously increased.
1t is really immaterial to the individual
what form taxing takes SO long as il is
effectual and impartial One of the
chief absurdities of the prevailing sys-
tenn is the taxing of improvements
by householders. These should never
be taxed unless they are source of I'm
creased income to . proprietor. It is
to make . man pay the
state bonus for doing something which
costs him money. benefits every per
son employed in the improvement, adds
70 the attractiveness of his neighbor-
hood, and increases the value of all ad-
accent property. It would be more
sensible for the state to pay . bonus to
man who would improve the property
where he lives, and which does not
'ring him any revenue, for in so doing
he is rendering public service. A tax |
lpon land alone would avoid all these
and injusticea Land re-
Mains the same no matter what sim-
'rovements' 1t holds, and is, in fact. in |
III financial transactions concerning
he property-with the exception of |
axing-regarded as the basis of secuis
y. And there is another absurdity IL,
he present tax system which is tend.
ng to make many thoughtful people
avor the single land tax" and that is
he comparative exemption which a
andowner who does not choose to put
on his land enjoys The
sndency of this is to encourage the
olding Of large tracts of land unim-
roved, while they increase in selling
OF mark you, in taxing value. If
md was regarded as the element of
hief value for taxing purposes. and its
were not taxed the
loment they were put upon it it is
ear that there would be many more
ouses erected than there now are, to
le benefit of the building trades and I
lose having to rent dwellings I
ut we are going farther afield
ian we intended on this subject
nr idea was simply to refer to
e evils that attend the attempts to
K personal property, and to point out {
e fact that there is rapidly-growing I
ntiment against it, outside of those
ho number themselves with the fol-
wers OF Henry George There has Z
en movement started ine
sw York in favor of making
al estate the main basis of Z
xation, which has among its leaders q
ch large capitalists and property
1ners as x-Mayor Ely, F. B. Thurber,
lillian Steinway and other prominent t
izens, whose interests are considera- q
involved in any change Of the meth s
OF taxation. The opinion, of these
ntlemen is that mortgages and cap v
l engaged in production or trade &
ould be exempt from taxation, be- 81
use taxes on such capital tend to drive Il
away, to put premium on dishon- Il
y and to discourage industry. Real Il
ate should bear the main burden Of liz
'ation, because such taxes can be a
st easily, cheaply and certainly col "
ted This is one of the signs of the cl
les that should not be ignored. If m
actual wealth of Paterson could be fe
ched and taxed to-day, we should Ia
be worried about making munici- Ia
ends meet, and every body who does o.
try to evade q just share of taxation al
nld have smaller taxes to pay. But to
ttv<<<~> - L