The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1893-01-19
COLUMBUS LETTER
The People of the State win
Have No Reason to Complain
If The SOlons Keep Up Their Record
of the First Two Weeks.
In That Time But One Law Was
Turned Out by Them.

The Collateral Inheritance Bill the Most
Important Measure Considered So Far
State Expenses No Grenter in Trooper.
tion Than Twenty Years Ago--The Ca
nal Question Promises TO BE a Big
Feature Before Adiournmcnt-Farme
Institute. 10 COO Dpop
COLUMBUS, o.. Jan. II, 1898.
If the legislature keeps up its record
of the first two weeks, the people OF
Ohio will not have very much to com.
plain about when it finally adjourns in
the unknown future. At the epd of the
first two weeks but one new law has
been turned out. This may seem to be
a remarkable statement, but it is none
the less true, that the legislature has
sent to the secretary Of states Office but
a single new statute as result Of its
first fortnights labor. Nearly 200 new
bills have been introduced in that time
a score or more have been considered
and passed. either by one house or the
other. or killed entirely. But the intro.
duction Of n new bill is long way from
passage-indecd, the passage Of bill by
one house is sometimes q very long way
from its becoming law.
The Most Important Bill.
The most important measure that has
thus far been considered is the collateral
inheritance bill that was introduced by
Mr.. Holcomb and passed by the house
last year. The senate spent two days
discussing it, and finally passed it, after
amending it so as to exempt all inherit.
ances over $4,000; the original bill
made this limit 81, 200. The tax is but
l-2 per cent, and if left at that amount
the limit should be lower than $4,000;
or, on the other hand, if the limit is left
! as high as $4,000, the rate Of the tax
should be much higher. All this will
come before the house in few days,
when the question of concurring in the
senate amendment comes before it. The
subject Of taxing inheritances has agi.
tated tax-law makers in many states. In
New York not only collateral inherit.
ances are taxed, but inheritances that
60 to hneal descendants are also; as a
consequence, Jay Gould's estate, which
all went to his own family, will have to
pay into the stGte treasury over half a
million dollars.
If the present bill goes into effect as
passed by the senate, it will bring into
the state each year not more than $685..
graded system had been adopted, so that
smaller estates would not have to pay as
much in proportion as larger ones, it
would have been more equitable and
more productive OF revenue.
a Bill TO Tax Direct Inheritance.
A bill is now being drawn by mem
Der from northern county to tax direct
inheritances, and it will be made up on
the graded plan. The passage Of an in.
heritance tax law is far easier than the
passing Of any other, for it has the
merit Of being impossible to dodge, and
is levied against those that are about to
become possessed of riches. Thus it re.
Eeves, to an extent equal to the amount
collected, the taxpayer who is assessed
| on the property that he has.
State Expenses.
In speaking of taxes, the subject oi
| state expenses at once suggests itself
| Ex-Secretary Of State Poorman has
written several newspaper articles o.
! late showing that the expenses Of the
! state had grown to an outrageous size
! Mr.. Poorman has been a member Of the
| legislature, secretary of state and news
| paper editor, and he is well informed OF
| many matters of state. He argues tha'
! twenty years ago the expenses of the
state were not quite $4,000 while
now they are $500, 600, whereas tht
| taxable property of the state has in
creased comparatively little. There
fore, he urges, there ought to be a lop
ping off at once to keep the expenses
down nearer what they were twenty
| years ago.
If anyone will take Mr.. Poorman'
figures and do a little calculating, h,
will at once see that Ohio is NOR,
cheaply governed today than it wa
twenty years ago; that is, man for man
there are fewer dollars paid out thar
then. There are more people than ther
| were at that time. 1t costs more to gov
ern ten men than it does five. Al
around us the states pay more in dollar
to govern their citizens than does Ohio
The real trouble is in the returns o
| property for taxation. With a grea
increase in population, with marvel
Gus growth in the industrial and othe
resources of the State, there is but lit
tie more property on the duplicates o
the state to be taxed than there wa
twenty years ago.
The legislature, with a false fear o
political destruction, is afraid to rails
the rate so that the necessary number o
dollars for the expenses of the stat
may be raised. We arrive at the sam
conclusion as Colonel Poorman, but b,
an entirely different route, and to ia
different purpose. His argument is tina
it is costing too much because all this
80, whereas, to many others, and amonI
them several members of the legisla
ture, it seems that the state is not onl
economically governed, but too much 8
for its own good.
The Canal Question
promises to be big feature Of this SEE
sion of the legislature. That much wa
promised the other day when bill
came up to abandon the Hooking canal
This canal has been in existance NOR
than forty years and has in that time
for operating expenses alone, cost tn
state more than 100000 more than
has taken In In receipts.