The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1893-04-29
THE FARMERS SIDE OF THE
QUESTION.
Views OF . Prominent New York Stat
Farmer.


The following are some Of my rea-
sons why taxes should not be collected
mainly from real estate, but from per-
sonal property and incomes:
1. Real estate, as such, causes but an
insignificant portion of our taxes
Occasionally there may be litigation
over the title to lands, but such cases
constitute but a small portion of the
suits that come before our courts.
Gravel banks and clay banks are in no
danger from burglars 1t requires no
police to watch them. ft
Farmers do not, like the employees Of
railroads and mills, make strikes and
riots that destroy property, take life
and require the calling out of the
militia to quell them
Those who employ lawyers pay law
yers. Tose who furnish employment
for sheriffs and constables and magis-
far as possible TO the cost of maintain
ing them. These are not as rule the
farmers. They are the men whose in
come is derived from personal prop
erty.
2. Land. as such, can not pay
taxes. The best farm yields no income
till personal property and labor are put
upon it Lots in tho city sell for more
than acres of land in the country. Sim
ply because of the personal property
and the products of labor put upon
them and around them. / live in Mon
roe county, one of the best farming
counties in the state. There is not a
arm in the county that will sell, for
farming purposes, for what it would
cost to put its improvements upon it.
The land has no market value. The
income from land depends upon the
labor that has been and is expended
upon it
Then impose taxes upon that which
causes no taxes, and which can pay no
taxes? Farmers are now bearing as
heavy load as they can struggle I'M
der Increase the burden, as you
would by making real estate pay all the
taxes, and farms could not be given
away.
5. Especially, should all forest lands
and all wood lots from which no rev.
enue is derived, be relieved from taxa
tion. They benefit the community at
large more than oil the officers at law
for whose support taxes are imposed.
They save us from droughts and famine;
they keep the country from turning
into desert. No farm should be taxed
for its woods any more than for its
public highways
4. If real estate is taxed, the tax
should be levied upon its actual own
ers To tax man for the full value of
a farm when another has mortgage
upon it, is a gross injustice. 1t is one
of the laws enacted for the special pur-
pose of the rich
There is no more difficulty in ascer-
tanning who owns the mortgage than
there is in finding out who owns the
farm.
To tax the farm and the mortgage
both is double wrong. 1t is taxing
the same property twice There is no
excuse for it.
Then, we say, let taxes be paid on
property that causes taxes. and let
them be paid in due proportion by the
actual owners of the property.
B. T. RoBERTa
North Chilli, N. ", January, 1893
REPLY: sxTtf
DEAR SIR: Your arguments are inge-
hious, and would have some weight were
1t not that they are based on q supposi-
tion which is far from the facts. This
is: that the expense of our courts nt
law are the chief causes of the taxes
annually paid by the citizens of state.
The truth is, that protection to prop
erty is but q trifling proportion of the
entire amount collected for public reve-
nues The question as to the relative
number of suits over real and personal
property is, therefore, not worth seri-
Gus discussion.
may, however, briefly refer to your
claim that as it is the employees of rail-
roads, mills, etc, who by rioting create
q necessity for the militia, they should
pay the taxes for that purpose. Do you
think that the average factory "hand"
or railway switchman owns more per
sonal property than the average
farmer? If you meant that the en-
ployes should be taxed, do you not con-
slider that mills and railroads (which
in some counties in this state are as
sessed at 800, coo per mile for their road
beds alone) are real estate?
You say that as rule those who fur
nish employment for sheriffs. con-
stables and magistrates, are the men
whose incomes are derived from per.
sonal property, This is a point on
which there no statistics obtainable,
for the simple reason that personal
property, unless invested in, or used
upon, real estate, yields no income
whatever.
lit is true that land alone can moi
pay taxes Taxes are paid out OF tie
products which labor, assisted by CAPT
tai Tor personal property obtain from
land. Your statement in regard to the
real value of farm lands is no doubt