The Opelousas courier., 1895-07-20
Letter From a Rockland County Farmer
on Taxation,

| On l8x0tfOns
The most common objection to Civ
ing up all attempt to tax personal prop
erty is the seeming injustice Of letting
rich men, whose property is mostly or
wholly in personality, go free of taxa
tlon-especially so as perhaps two
thirds of all litigation in the courts is
IN regard to personal property. In re-
gard to this and other objections it
must suffice to say that it is a good
thing for any community to possess a
large amount of personally, the more
the better. Taxation drives personal
property away. and the more stringent
the law, and the severer the penalties,
the is it driven off. as witness the
effect OF the listing system in Ohio and
California. 1t is the uniform expert
ence of all the states of our union, as
as well as that of all history, that a
personal properly tax has never been
collected with any decent approach to
fairness and equity. 1t is safe to say
that a thing that can not be accom-
plished might as well not be attempt
ed. 1t is personal property that gives
value to real estate. 10 a country
where there is no personal property,
and land there has no values Go where
there is a small amount of personally,
and land has but little value. Go where
there is a great accommodation of per-
sonalty, and there land has greav va4-.I
If all taxes were abolished on personal
property, all the government would
n NO IN H. would 1o - %o1x1 ~-~.-l II
the rental value of real estate ICON
ferred by the absence of personality to
defray public expenses.
AS to the advantage which might
reasonably be expected to follow the
abolition of taxes On personal proper
ty, an inflow of capital, of manufac-
turers, OF merchants, and all sorts Of
business and business men would be
sure to Misunderstanding more
buildings both for business purposes
and residences. And soon the tax levy
would thereby be increased far beyond
the loss occasioned by the abolition Of
taxes on personally. And hence an
increased demand for labor; hence bet
ter wages, greater demand for all pro-
ducts, and rapid exchanges; and thus
business prosperity and good times.
Personal property may be divided in.
to two classes-chattels and credits,
the latter the larger part, and largely
nothing but claims upon real estate
and chattels. The injustice of taxing
credits when the property which they
represent has already been taxed is too
apparent to need explanation. And as
to taxing commodities, the tax is al.
ways paid not by the manufacturer or
the merchant, but by the
The former only advances the money
the taxes follow the goods until they
come to the consumer, and he pays
them without a grumble, not knowing
what he does. The tax on money,
mortgages, etc, is always paid by the
borrower in increased interest. The
more closely this subject is studied,
the nor clearly will the inutility and
unproftableness of attempting to tax
personal property appear. The borrower
and consumer in the last analysis, pays
nearly all the tax ever collected upon
personally. Taxation upon personal
property is only 1.-The science of SO
plucking the goose as to produce the
most feathers with the least squawk-
J. w. MOORE,
Stony Point, N. Y.