The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1893-02-24
Friday, Feb. "a, 1898.
About TaXas.

the tax question which has run through
farmers paper. While neither have sue
ceeded in clearing their side of the conten-
ton Of doubt, the discussion cannot fail to
be profitable to the readers of the Rural by
drawing their attention 10 the difficult snb-
ject of taxation. The champions of single
tax have the disadvantage of being compell-
ed TO rely solely on theory, the single tax
system never having been tested by trial.
On the other hand the editors Of the West
ern Rural are compelled TO face the dam
aging fact that though taxing everything in
sight is claimed would be even and exact
Justice, the facts which meet this postulate
are that never at any time or under any
conditions have tax assessors and collectors
been able 10 find and assess anything nearly
all the personal property owned in COM
munity. The effort to do this has been
made for hundreds, perhars thousands
of years, and without in single instance
succeeding. The argument advanced &c
meet this formidable obstacle is thai
assessors and collectors do not perform Their
whole duty conscieniiously in carrying oul
the law. This is assuming that assessors oil
property have through all time been either
incompetent or upfaithful officers. This
argument can not be admitted, without
stultifyiDg common sense itself We know
that all tax officials are neither incompe-
tent or criminal, and the theory that all
personal property should be found and
eqnitably taxed is clearly proven to be an
impossibilIty by centuries Of trial and cen
turtles of failure. If any proposition was
ever conclusively proven, it is that personal
property cannot be assessed and taxed equit-
ably, and that much more escapes than
the amount on which tax is paid And the
other damaging fact in connection with this
is that those who own the most valuable
personal property are the ones who escape
their proportionate share of tax. 1t is
abundantly proven that personal property
cannot be equitably taxed, by centuries Of
trial, and the logic of this fact utterly-or
should do so-destroys the theory, which
assumes that all property can be made bear
its equal amount oftax. When impossibliies
present themselves in the path of practical
people they abandon that course. Theory
is never disturbed by such obstacles.
Whether the single takers succeed or fail
in making out their case, it is evident be-
yond doubt that the editors of the West
tern Rural cannot win their case against
the mountains of evidence we have pointed
out. Common justice and common sense
demand, in the face of memorable facts,
that the effort to tax all personal property
must be abandoned, and just and equitable
taxation sought on some other lines. We
are not compelled to accept a tax on land
values, excluding all others, for system of
equitable and just taxation. The inventions
Of the past sixty years have wrought
miracles of changes in industrial pursuits
and the relation of property 10 taxation.
The natural monop,l the franchises of
which have been bestowed on favorites act
ing under corporation laws, ifreclaimed and
taken possession of by the governments,
national, state and municipal, could alone
be made to yield sufficient revenue to pay
all the taxes. Such system of taxation
would be an equitable and just system, in
the main, and based on the philosophy
which underlies the single tax, that the bene-
fit which the opportunity TO use imposes on
the user TO contribute to the expense of gov
ernment would be met. There are several
other sources from which just and eqnl-
able tax could be derived, among which we
will mention only one more which is tax
on the income of corporations. The cor
poratlon is an artificial person, and has
grown TO be very dangerous as we'll as
usefnl person. The corporation is created
by the State and should be placed and kept
under the supervision of the State, and its
income taxed by the State for the benefit of
the citizen. We contend that the welfare of
the citizen should be made the first consid-
GRAFTON of government, and that the bur
thens of taxation should tie lifted from his
shoulders, and placed on those of his art-
fetal rival, the corporation. That The
corporation has become the citizens COM
petitor in every line of productive industry
there is no question. 1t has crowded him
out of positions in which he used to earn his
bread. 1t has in mullitudes of ways made
him a dependent and wage servant TO its
gigantic power and pinless greed, and
should be placed and kept under strict
surveillance of the State, its creator, and
made TO lift the burthens of taxation from
the citizen. We could enumerate other
sources from which an equitable tax could
be drawn but among them ali is not that OF
taxing the personal property OF the citizen.
and among them is a tax on land values
judicously adjusted, but the latter would
not be the all sufficient source as the inor-
dinate zeal of its decipes fondly believe.
And herein is the weak point in the single
for it. The complex systems which have
grown up and become woven into the woot
and warp Of our civilization do not wholly
depend on the control or monopoly of land
for their profitable eK Isience, and tax on
land values sufficient TO dejIay ell expenses
of government would not touch many OF
shese methods of wealth accumulation, no
more than the effort to euuitably distribute