The Hocking sentinel. [volume] (Logan, Ohio) 1871-1906, 1894-07-05
t.OV TAxAT:CN AFFECTS THE
FARMER.

uen, Secretary of The Tax Commission o
Ohio, Quaker City.
= PART /.
Iconfess to you to-day that ] fee
highly honored in being permitted tC
talk to SO many Of the intelligent
Young farmers of Ohio Other repre-
sentative farmers have talked to yor
along lines familiar to them, all theil
lives, but l talk 10 you on a subject
comparatively new 10 myself anC
doubtless new to many Of you. Before
j come to my subject | want to com
mend YOU for the noble ambition that
inspires YOU 10 come here TO these in
Compare ble Opportunities and advant
ages, to learn all you can, about the
Oldest, the most honorable, and the
most useful of all occupations, agrieul.
ture. When the great mass of farmers
employ in their occupation the same
amount of cultivated brain and skill
and thought, as are employed by men
in other industries, many problems
how unsolved, will be easy of solution.
/ am to talk to You on the subject OF
taxation as it affects farmers For
twenty or thirty years of my life
thought / fully and perfectly under
stood the question of taxation. and
often wished could just run one legis-
lature, which supposed would be long
enough to solve the whole tax prob
lem, simplify all our tax laws and
start the whole machinery off, like a
new engine oiled and FURNISHED, with
enough steam to Iun "a full generation.
Recently | gave six months study to
the tax problem, and then it was
found, that before l had known almost
nothing about taxation, and after my
six months of study I1have not solved
the problem, but only learned few
simple things or primary principles,
and these / want to impart to the
young men who honor me with their
presence to-day.
This study has been very helpful to
me il. this, it has taught me my igno-
rance-the most important thing a
young man can learn. The young man
with the bearing Il know it all has
little chance in the race, with the one
whose bearing says Il want to learn it
all AI 10 Dolil iltii anu lNl
toise in the race-he runs the faster
and holds out the longer. Indeed your
presence here is prirna facie evidence
of your ignorance of many things, and
your desire to learn. The subject of
taxation is most complex problem;
the factors are so numerous and varied,
underlying and overlapping each other
jim endless confusion. complicated by
public policy. self-intercst. greed and
dishonesty, which together mislead the
wisest and best men in the solution. I
mention these factors, not 20 indicate
that ] think I have solved the problem,
but only to indicate that / think have
found some of the prime factors of the
problem.
One of the first things you will no.
tice about my form of argument is,
selves, and hence that some one must
be selected to execute them. and whoev-
er is selected must be paid for his time
and brain. The money for this purpose
Is raised by tax per head, or poll tax,
or by tariff on imports, or on exports,
or by tax CT property and business.
Our state constitution, art. II, sec. 2,
in common with most other states of
the union, limited the source of taxa
ton to the latter, property and bust
ness, and q course excluded the other
sources of taxation, viz, poll tax, tax
imports and exports.
Many of the ablest jurists of the
state understand art. -, sec. ., requir-
ing all property to be listed at its full
value in money, as not prohibitory, but
directory. That it does not prohibit
the legislature from taxing other
things having value, but directs that
when property is taxed, it must be by
this rule.
The theory as to property has always
been construed alike by all parties and
all interests, not SO as to business. The
as to business has been a
growth, and the growth though slow,
has always been in the right direction,
and have no doubt this will ultimate
ly Lring onto the tax duplicate every
thing having a money value, whether
it be railroad, telegraph line, express
palace car company, telephone
or pipe line; such, take it,
is the meaning of the different decis-
ions OF the supreme court of the state,
each one taking an advance step in this
direction over the previous one.
A tax is the price which each one
pays for the protection to life and prop
erty afforded by the state.
This tax should be first, Just; second
ly, eqattadie; and thirdly, collected. If
an amount is required of one dispro-
portional to benefits received, or if
greater amount is required of one than
Of another, or if when laid, it is not
collected. through neglect of officials,
DR. if unwise laws or inadequate laws
are passed for enforcement, these dis
ensue, and a desire to
eyade is created and fostered. Ii | do
not misunderstood the amount of hu-
man nature possessed by the agricul-
tural student, in common with every
body else, you viii some day, when you
20 back to your farms, look around
and find you are taxed on everything
you have, and twice on some things,
and that other men owning or making
two, three, or ten times as much as
you make, are paying less tax, and
then may l describe you just then?
Y on will either feel discouraged or an
cry, or you will study some way to
avade your tax, or you will firmly re-
solve to work for a change of law that
will eqalize your taxes with others.
What your speaker would desire to ac-
this afternoon is to induce
you to work for the latter as the only |
cure, because each of the 9th !
II ways only aggravates the disease.
Another condition will trouble you,
Is it has many farmers heretofore in
this state. viz. double taxation. You !
will find you are taxed on all your sur
plus grain each year. and the next year,
when this grain has been fed TO stock, |
It is again taxed in the added value of
Lhe stock; a mere aggravated case will
- if YOU have mortgage on your
land, and you pay tax on the land to
the state and tax on the mortgage to
the money Lender in the form of added +
rates of interest. Really You only own
part of the land you have paid for, and
the mortgagee owns the remainder, |
but you pay on all. You viii he just ]
a little more aggravated when you
learn that he has collected the tax from
you in added interest and not returned /
it to the tax assessor But under our !
present constitution there can be no