New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1895-04-18

Returns II incomes for taxation ARE highly dis
appointing - the officials. especially when b. Us
considered that muliitudcs who intend TO resist
payment of me tax have made returns in order
TO- avoid penalties. only about 1000 returns
were made here including those representing in'
comes from S}.5oo 10 $1,000. not taxable. and
only 1000 in philadelphia. although some returns
for corporations may have been sent To- other
States. Al the best This implies a m"agr" rcy"-
nue.. and officials m Washington now believe that
not more than Sl0OO0Ono can De- realized. Bu'
s,cp, for resistance To ,c law multiply every
day.
The miners Of the Far West have brought suits
10 test The constiuIonali'y of tax on III" III
comes from mines which are directly the IN
come from real estate. Secretary Carlisle has
instructed collectors that only rent derived from
land IS exempt under the recent decision, thus
asserting in effect that the Court did not use
words with intelligence when il expressly de-
clorrd that the rent or income of real estate.
which is the incident of lis ownership could mol
be taxed He will probably find that b" has III
volvcd himself in a great many extremely irou-
bcSoIne suits before all j. done. Taxing IN"
product Of the land Is taxing the land; * IN"
Court asked "What j. land but the income there
OFF, But if the land containing gold ana silver,
iron and coal, cannot be taxed through the SUD
,orCugn Of taxing the income derived from II,
uroncrtv amounting 10 about $l.3OOOO0oW Is
fms EXEMPT The Standard Oh Company raises
thc same claim regarding the income derived
from oil wells. which would cut off properly
worth many millions more.
Leading railroads have brought SlIit which in
Il In uuttlpr form NJ
apprcciable part Of their income could be realized
except bv the use of The real estate they possess
and il Is palpably impossible 10 determine what
norton of their income is due 10 III" use of land
and what portion 10 use of their other property
If Government can tax such incomes ~ al. II
can tax so far as 10 render the real estate they
own valuccss, and if that is not taxing the real
estate itself, what il it? 50 the manufacturing
establishments, which have Sl.G,l UnWD invest
cd in real estate. are also dependent upon the
use of their water power, their land and build
ings for ali inscparab" part Of every dollar oi
income they realize How is it possible TO tax
the income which they derive from the use OF
real estate without taxing the real estate itself
But if incomes Of which the material and III
scparab.r part i necessarily derived from real
estate cannot he taxed. because the land Itself
cannot be taxed the SlO3:;c 100000 of railway
property and manufacturing plants must be cX
cmpt.
Next there are the incomes from houses and
farms rented. to which the recent decision iii
rcctly applies Just what part of the real prop
criy Is in this position cannot be determined. hui
a fairly close approximation 10 the fact may b'
reached by considering the proportion of prop
criy owned and covered by mortgage. There are
2.923.G7l families owning homes, Of which S03,
J23 have mortgages on property worth S2,G|2.
900 900 and there are 3,1I2.1IG families owning
farms of which SSG.9J1 have mortgages on prop
erty worth s.. O.JJ OOOO0O Thence ii may be- in
fcrrpd that about $S1GiO0O0OO worth of farms
are owned by occupants, and S4,5l5,oo0.OOO worth
are leased and that about $500, 10000 wortl
of other real estate Is owned by occupants Il,
homes. the rest being either leased or used fol
productive purposes. OF the property owned
| only very small fraction, the census shows Is
in farms or buildings of such value that II cal
yield $4,000 year In short. the income from
more than half the real estate In the country