The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1894-02-01

100000 per cent. .................. 5000
s2oOooool 1000 900
John Stuart Mill expresses the views
held by the ablest students of social sci
ence when he says: "lnheritances and
legacies exceeding certain amount
are highly proper subjects for taxation,
and the revenue from these should be
made as great as it can be made with
out giving rise to e7asions byodonation
during life, or concealment of property,
such as it would be impossible ade-
quately to check. The principle of
graduation, that is, of levying a larger
percentage on larger sum, though its
application to general taxation would
be in my opinion objectionable, seems
to me both just and expedient as APP
piled to legacy and inheritance duties.
England in 1880 established a tax on
legacies, and in 1858 the succession tax
law was enacted. In the United States
a collateral succession tax law went
into force in 1864, but that act has since
been repealed in common with other in
ternal revenue laws. In New York
there IS a collateral succession tax law
Va 81 pei WV LIS GClA lClbCNt Ill lCOO
LII, 631, and it is estimated that at
least 50, 600, 600 will be received from this
source by the state during the present
year. a similar law in PENNSYLVANIA
brought to the state treasury in 1891
the sum of 81, 227, 302. The collateral
succession law reaches comparatively
few estates because this tax is simply
on the devolution of property on other
than direct descendants or progenitors.
Thus the law adopted by Connecticut
in January, 1889, is as follows: "All
property conveyed by will or death of
intestate to other than to father, moth
err husband, wife, lineal descendant,
adopted child, the lineal descendant of
any adopted child, the wife or widow
of a son, the husband of the daughter
OF descendant, or some charitable pur-
pose or purpose strictly public, per
cent of its value above the sum of
$1,000, for the use of the state"
The succession tax that l have pro-
posed will not fall on the poor. Those
whose estates amount to 500 can
well afford to give 500 to the state in
return for all the protection of its laws
which has enabled wealth to be ac-
cumulated and enjoyed. The success
sion tax is founded on the broadest
principles of equity. l maintain that
the wealth possessed by every individ-
ual has been created directly or indi-
rectly by the help of others, and there
fore he owes to others or, generally
speaking, to the public obligations
which he ought to repay. This is par
ticularly true in the United States
Every citizen, whether he be rich or
poor, is equal in the eye of the law and
has behind him for the protection of
his rights the entire power of the ma
ton. 1t is therefore no more than Just
that every person who accumulates
property should pay for the protection
that the state secures to him and his
possessions. If each state were to es-
tablish a tax on legacies and inherit
ances such as just proposed and devote
the money SO obtained to the construc-
ton and maintenance of roads in few
years the older and more populous
states would be provided with roads
equal to those of England, France and
Switzerland; and good roads, when
rightly constructed, can be main
tanned at comparatively small cost; and
as the wealth of the states increased
the succession tax would furnish suf-
fcient revenue to meet all the expenses
of the state after paying for the main
tenance of roads, thus relieving the
people from all direct taxation for state
purposes.
The advantages of the succession tax
are now being brought very prominent
ly before the people. In Massachusetts
the recently adopted platforms of both
the republican and the democratic par
ties have planks recommending the
adoption of the direct succession tax on
inheritances and legacies. 1t is my in
tention to publish a pamphlet ON the
subject of the succession tax primarily
as a means of constructing and main
tanning roads, and for its ultimate OBJ
ject the adjustment of direct taxation.
Albert A. Pope, in Breeders Gazette.
Trace the Parents Breeding.
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