The Hocking sentinel. [volume] (Logan, Ohio) 1871-1906, 1894-07-05
HOW TAxATiCN AFFECTS THE
FARMER.

loNCSh. secretary OF Sotiihio
sion CT Ohio, Quaker City.
PART II.
I am ashamed to tell it, bat large
property owners, who mould public
sentiment and lead in public enterprise
and business, boasted to your speaker
how they doigel the tax asscssor.
One prominent banker said ''hc drew
his mortgages in the name OF his coach
man. and he said: ''Morgenthalei
can't find lay coachman." \ lady oi
large means paid taz: on a comfortable
home because she could not hide that
and loaned money in the name OF heI
sister. who always stayed in the back
ground. and never went TO church oI
into society, and whose name was not
in the directory. Others assigned mort
cages. notes. bonds etc, TO parties out.
side the state. who collect interest and
remit to real owners. Trust companies
outside the state. and it is feared banks
outside the state. are accessories to this
hiding, especially in furnishing green
backs about the second Monday OF
April. One bank known to your speak
er. and not in Guernsey county. re-
ceives deposits during the year. with
the understanding that the depositor
receives greenbaclls on the second Mon
day of April. The depositor takes
them out on that day. really or suppos-
edly. and Immediately returns them,
and another depositor does the same,
and SO the same greenbaclzs dc
duty for all the depositors OF
the bank. There is another plan
to take options on western land
until after the second Monday in april,
and count this option a debt and offset
it against money or credit, and SO on,
ad infinitum ad nauseum. | am not
afraid to give you these pointers, as
neither farmers nor their sons are
troubled much about loaning money in
the last few years. But suppose the
tax inquisitor catches one of these tax
dodgers what is the result? What
about his neighbors? Do they ostracise
him as a perjurcd man? Do the boards
of trade and chambers of commerce
expel him from membership? Not a
bit of it. They simply say, ''he is un-
fortunate in his tax returns But
what has all this to do with the farmer,
and how does it affect him? 1t affects
you in this way. You pay TIE tax CT
your dishonest neighbor, violation of
one of the fundamental principles of
taxation. viz. that of equality. and this
makes the farmer wish to evade his
share of taxation. Indeed | fear some
of our rural residents have caught this
contagion already. | have never con-
+ tended that farmers as a class We're
more inherently honest than city peo-
pie, but rather that their opportunities
were less. and their school less efficient
and advancement less rapid.
But the farmer ought to be the most
honest man. lie deals directly with
nature, stands at her fruitful womb
! and receives her blessings and benedic-
/ tions: and he there learns that nature
is strictly honest in all her dealings,
that she gives in proportion to our la
Dor and sllill,-no more, no less. that
! as we sow, so shall we reap. On the
other hand, men in the city deal with
each other and with fickle fashion, and
with forces and tendencies some
times mysterious and sometimes
/ uncertain. l do rot say that
one school makes them more honest
! than the other, but / do say it ought
/ to. No one can watch these processes
of nature or rather of natures God and
not be made more honest and better in
every relation OF life.
! Look at this question from another
standpoint and see who pays the taxes.
The Ohio tax commission instituted an
inquiry to ascertain the percentage of
taxes to net income, paid by the differ
ent industries of Ohio. They found
the banks paid from 10 per cent the
lowest in the state, and this did not in
clude tax on circulation paid to
general government, to 3714 per cent.
Street car lines were reticent, but
those reporting, paid from 90 to 30 per
cent: real estate owners of city prop
erty 90 to so per cent. of gross rentals,
and much larger per cent. if repairs
| and insurance is included. The rail-
roads paid from 6 to / per cent. of net
/ income in taxes, and the farmers pays
what?-as much as the railroad?
Some few were found that paid as low
as 10 per cent. of net income from
legitimate farming, but most paid from
80 to SO per cent and some paid Is to
100 per cent, as in the case of the land
owners who live in cities and villages
and pay at current rate for all labor
done on the farm.
The foregoing shows why farmers
are in such large number of instances
on the margin of existence, and why
there is SO much discomfort among
them, and why some of them not
scrupulously honest. try to dodge the
tax assessor. and thus raise again the
rate on the honest man. who viii not
Esau-lille sell his soul fer mess of
pottage.
Farmers are not the only ones af-
fected by this lodging. 1t affects the
honest man everywhere, and the widow
and trustee and guardian who can not
dodge, and the estate in process of set
tlement. Notwithstanding this dis
content. think the events of the last
year ought to reconcile farmers to their
surroundings more than anything else
that could have happened. Few farm
ers have gone hungry during the past
year, while large numbers of laborers
and city people have been compelled to
patronize soup houses or live on public
charity. Few farmers have lost their
all during the year. while thousands of
capitalists have lost the accumulations
of a lifetime in a single day.
But with returning prosperity, the
old conditions will return, and it is
well to look now for remedies. i know
of but two ways to get clear of burden
some taxes. One is to get all property
on the tax duplicate and thus lessen
the rate, and the second is to decrease
expenditure Then the means to ac-
complish each: First, moral influence
and secondly, votes. Now a few sug
gestions on the two ways of reducing
taxation and the means by which it
may be accomplished. First, to get all
property and everything having value,
inherent or prospective, on the tax du-
plicate. better laws are needed in many
directions. Better public sentiment
that will support the public official
who fearlessly does his duty and a pub
lie sentiment that will condemn the of
ficial who neglects his duty, public Off
cials who will punish the tax dodger
and perjurer as thief and criminal,
for such he is: he takes all the benefit
of the government, is protected in all