Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1893-01-05
TAX RErDRn DEPARTMENT.


Froa @Wh0 Pays Toar IAxess
The imposition OF al taxes upon rr11
estate is the best system26f t1x1tiOn=
because the real payers Of sf1xes would
have conscious and direct pecuniAxy
naent, because it relieves capital from
agement to its reproductive nse. and
because faxes upon real estate are cas-
iiy. cheAply and certainly collected and
bear least heavily on the farmer and
the worker
Farmers rs rule are slzeptical Of any
benefit to come to them from transfer
ing all taxes to real estate They want
it proved
1t IS notorious that in MANY, perhaps
in most parts Of the country farm
lands have for the last ten years been
decreasing in value, while suburban
lands have steadily increased in value.
But most Of the farms are assessed just
as high as ever, while the increase in
valne Of suburban lands has failed to
greatly increase the assessments The
consequence Is that farm lands are pay-
ing higher tax in proportion to their
real value than are suburban lands
We should insist upon fair assessment
of all real estate. Again, the farmers
are now assessed, not only upon their
land and houses. but also on their
stock, their farm implements, and upon
other personal property We should
remove all these taxes upon per
stock and tools of trade, things
"a -
1t once be relieved from burdens now
discour1ging to industry 1t IS worth
noting also that the farmers personal
property il generally OF y character not
easily concealed and therefore open to
assessment. while the personal prop
erty of ma1y other persons may be cas-
lily spirited out of sight when the as
SCISSOR comes around, and no law that
can be made can prevent it If al per
sonal property were relieved from tax
alton this source Of injustice would dis
appear.
Some of the farmer. are strongly OPP
posed to the idea that mortgages and
incomes should be exempt They in
sist that the holder Of the mortgage IS
practically the part owner Of the land
upon which the mortgage rests. and
that to tax the land and exempt the
mortgage Is unjust But, experience
shows that to tax the mortgage and ex-
enpt the land is simply to tax the land
IN another way, and harder way
The effect Of taxing mortgages is to In
crease the rate at which money loans.
and to make it more difficult for Dor
rowers to get money. In other words.
the result Of taxing capital in any form,
IS to drive that form of capital away
from the jurisdiction in which such a
system of taxation prevails If the
attempt is made to counteract this
tendency OF taxes upon mortgages to
raise the rate o. interest by penal Laws
limiting the rate, two things follow:
Lenders Of money, as far as possible,
avoid placing mortgages within a dis
trict subject to such tax laws, and such
as do venture their capital, defy the
laws and charge an additional rate for
tie additional risk
The idea of taxing incomes has al
ways been seductive one to many al
vocates of direct taxation An income
tax, however, begins with the 6esigA of
exempting by far the larger part of the
community from taxation; for all in
come tax laws name minimum income
that is not to be taxed: and as a rule
that minimum is much larger than the
income of at least three-fourths of the
That is not fair: and,
besides. though q man may be poor he
does not want to take charity from the
government by having some one else
pay his taxes Uf those whose incomes
fan within the provisions of an income
tax many are able to conceal the true
of their incomes, SO that as .
general rule the honest man of moder-
ate means and the Salaried man whose
income is easily ascertainable. whether
be viii or no, pay more than their
share of the taxes