Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1893-03-17

taxes, and now have given them q law
+ thai will make nine-tenths Of them
tpe,jnrers. l think that when the farmers
( shall have booked over this bill they will
( say after the manner of the man of old,
',Dehser US from our friends in the Maine
Legislature"
Mr, Hersey of oxford presume
there will be many friends of the
! measure who viii desire to speak upon this
matter. aad so far as can will be brief
: in the few remarks that have To offer
I This Is not measure intended To scare
any body or 10 drive nine-,enths of the tax
{ PAYERS of Maine to commit the crime of
Iperjury. don't believe, Mr. President,
( for a mouient that the people of the State
5 of Maine are dishonest, or that they will
swear falsely for dollar or five
, dollars or fifty dollars. don't believe that
nine -tenths of the taxpayers Of the State
are perjurers When the senator from Han
cock thinks this over he will see in his So
ber moments that he has overdrawn this
; matter, TO say the least
Now my first proposition is this, the peo-
: lple of Maine demand something in the
shape Of listing bill. Two years ago the
grangers moved in this matter AMI petitions
came in from about $4,000 pt ople desiring
listing bill, and they have renewed their
I
desire this year.
Now, it is fact that only be-
tween 90 and 60 rer cent of the
property in the State of Maine pays taxes.
This so or 10 per cent has to pay the taxes
on all the property iu the State, thus nearly
doubling the taxation on that so or 90 per
cent. Now, Mr.. President, isn't there
cause for grievance Isn't there a reason
why the real estate owners, the farming
communities, class of people whose entire
property is open TO the assessors, come here
and ask that law BE- passed to take from
them that burden? | say to you it is in
keeping with good common sense that they
should come. They want every tax
payer in the State of Maine to
pay his proportional share of the
taxes and no more. Ii is claimed that this
bill is aimed at the rich man. That is not
a fair statement. We simply want the bur
den of taxation TO be equally divided, las the
organic law of the constitution of Maine
says il shall be.
This bill as amended will leave the mat
ter very nearly in the same shape as the
present law. This proposed law is nothing
more than the change of one word in sec.
"a, chap. &, Revised Statutes. 1t is pro-
posed that the assessors ''shall' require the
make oath to its truth.
hope that this bill will become law,
because believe that it will
relieve the burdens of large class of peo-
pie who think they want it, and who believe
that they are paying the full tax of the 100
per cent. on their 80 to 60 per cent. of the
property and are bearing burden of nearly
twice what they ought to bear.
Mr.. Winslow of Somerset This is
matter of universal interest, and it affects
more particularly those who are sometimes
called the common people of the Stste.
This has been spoken of as a farmers
measure. That, think, is an erroneous
idea. 1t is measure which interests all
the common people of the State.
The only arguments that should have any
weight are after all very simple when You
come down to first principles. 1t is ques-
ton of equity and fairness. it is a ones
ton of the many against the few, whether
all the property in the State shall pay its
fair share of the burden of taxation or not.
| The argument is almost puerile, it is so
simple. 1t happens that the common pep
pie of the State are largely farmers, and
that this measure comes from the Grange.
They are simply adocates for the whole
people. Everybody in this State, from
Fort Kent to Kittery, is watching us today,
and they demand that this bill shall pass.
On the other hand, of course the moneyed
interests, the men who have personal prop
erty which has escaped taxation, are op-
posed to the measure. 1t is not often that
we have an opportunity to legislate for the
ma jority; il is not often that we can be
sure of passing a bill that shall rebound 10
the greatest good of the greatest number,
but we have that opportunity now.
Now, with regard to the particular effects
of this bill. 1t is the calmest most mild
sort of a bill that could be presented. The
senator from Hancock has referred to the
destruction of small business interests. |
had supposed that that argument had been
exploded long ago. The Objectionable
clause in this respect has been stricken out
by my amendment.
The senator has also drawn very severe
moral, or rather immoral, picture of nine
tenths of the people of the State perjuring
themselves if this bill becomes law. Sup
posing that be true In my opinion the sin
of stealing is as great as that of lying.
W hen my neigbb0r fails to pay taxes on his
whole property he steals from me, and he
does an injustice to all the community in
which he lives. II he lies he lies to himself
alone. and does not bring the burden of his
sin on others.
| Mr.. Winslow then went on to speak of
the bill as regarded politics, and said that
it ought to be considered apart from its
fleet on any party. Continuing he said
If it is not passed | do not know what the
consequences will be. know it has been
the measure npon which the election was
based and tell you that just so sure as
this bill is not passed it will be understood
to be an ignoring of the demands of the
people of the State.
The senator from Oxford has already
pointed out that this bill is merely a
strengthening of the present law.
I would like the Senate to con-
slider the workings of this law in
other states. Statistics show the pre-
cse results for which we are striving have
been produced. A large amount of person.
al property has been brought under taxa
! lion, and the common people have been re-
lieved. Here is point that we have over
looked, it seems to me that the wealthy peo
pie are far better able to pay their per-
centage of taxes upon their property than
men of small means
| There is principle of psychological or
| intellectual philosophy viii h tells us that
| the will influences belief that men will be-
| lieve what they desire to believe, and will
i be able to frame theory to uphold their
| point. 1t seems to me that this has
been shown in this discussion The man
who will have to pay little more tax is
| generally the man who is opposed to the
measure We hare bad wealth in the mil
| lious here lobbying against this bill for the
past teo days. What does that mean? II
means fhst these gentlemen have not been
ps wing taxes upon all their property, and
they lIn, want to be required to do ii in
| the future.
submit. Mr President, that great ma
| jori,y of our people are demanding the
| pass age of this bill today, and they expect
| it today and | trust that the Senate will no,
4 fail 20 give the measure a passage.
Mr.. Thatcher of Penobseot spoke against
tn. bill, and said some of the assessors con
sidered the measure impraeticable. and said
/, woud take three years to make one years
valuation of the city Of Bangor, as the mer-
chants would not make any returns. He
said that the assessors also believed that
the smopnt of property brought under tax
alton woud be less under the proposed law
| than at present. He gave examples of some
e.ses IN ehich the proposed Law would be a
dIsaavsntage, and said he firmly believed
the State wonli gain nothing by it. He
quoted statistics showing the working of
| the Law in other States, and in conclusion
questioned the eonstitntionality of the pro-
posed iar.
! Mr.. Allan of Washington spoke against
the bill, saying that he believed that this
hiIl wouia not bring under taxation the
| property w.ich ought to be taxed.
aIr Wiggin of Aroostook spoke in favor
I fF the measure and said that the princinif