The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1895-06-12
THE TRICK EXPLAINED.
HOW THE STATE TAX WAS RE
DUCED FOR PARTY EFFECT,
And the Amount of the Taxes In.
creased at the Same Time.

We have received the following in
teresting letter from friend in Can
non Falls. Minnesota. It. gets right
at the nub of the thing.
To the Editor:
It may be of some interest to the
readers Of THE REPRESENTATIVE to
know why the Alliance Legislature of
two years ago, as it was called, placed
tax Of 2-lO mills Cd the state, and
the last one reduced it to to ,7-10.
have learned through our repre-
sentative that the 2-1O was in excess
of all demands, and was done by the
Republican State Administration to
bring the Populists into disrepute; as
they had to take that or nothing; it
being trick of the other party. And
as to the other 10 mills, l have
learned from good authority that the
State Board of Equalization raised
the taxable valuation ttirty-th1oe and
one-third (SS5) per cent IN Goodhue county.
If they can change the valuation it is
easy to see that the rate per cent cuts
| no figure in the matter. And what
can be done in Goodhue county, can
be done in any other county in the
state. II this board Of equalization
chooses to do SO, the next could make
| it one per cent and then we would
wonder how our taxes increased and
! the rate per cent decreased at the
same time. That is what astOniShed
me when l found | had more than
| one-half more taxes to pay this year
| than last, and no known cause for the
rise except $25 extra for special taxes
in district school. all other taxes be-
ing the same. Yours, J. H. H.
This is another of the Republican
nov you see it and now you don't
see it" tricks They are a set of
thimble-riggers, and regard the COM
mon people very much as the fakirs
do that follow a something to
be bamboozled and swindled.
We have been looking over some of
our tax bills, in Dakota county, with
the following results:
We find that the tax on the W. of
the S. WI Sec 26, t. 115, r. Is, 80
acres, for the year 1891, was $11.32.
The tax on the same land, in 1894, no
improvements being made in the
meanwhile, is 1864, an increase OF
nearly one-third.
The tax on the 81 of S. Ell Sec. q,
Town 115, R. 10 so acres, in 1891, was
5000. In 1894 it was $3.50. And so
on through the list.
This whole tax business is shock
punishment inflicted on the land-own.
ers for the support of lot Of office
holders, We have lived in Dakota
county for nearly forty years. If we
had taken all the money we have pai6
in for taxes, in that time, and invest
ed it, as the bankers did, we shoul6
have to-day over $4,000! And soha
haze ,re got for 1t? One hundred dollars
would cover all the returns we eve
had from the county indirectly, and
we never received penny from thu
county directly We have helped tt
support blooming lot of tax-eaters
but we cannot get it through GU
head why we were under any more
moral obligation to support then
than they are to support us. Gu
threshing machine has consumed tn,
whole crop to run it. This year W,
have paid $407 for taxes in Dakot;
county alone, and SO far as any bene
fit we have received, or are likely tx
receive is concerned, we might just a
we'll have pitched it into the Missis
sippi river. We showed the other da,
that the achole county revenue tao of Dako
ta county is consumed IN collecting and ad
nainistering It. And we suppose thu
same is true Of every county in TIN
state.
And now, as our correspondent
shows, the Circus Fakirs, called tn
: Republican Party. laugh at the hay
seed in our hair, and bamboozle us b.
reducing the tax at one end and in
creasing it three fold as much at tn
other end; and the clowns look on
with open-mouthed AM
, cry "Bully for the G. o. P.!-Th
friend of retrenchment and reform!'
We want our farmer friends to lool
over their tax-receipts and see VIII a
they paid in the past and wha t the
pay now;-and then ask themselve
what they got for it all.