The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1896-01-21

Lane on Taxation Exemptions.
General Sewellss new poodle, 7. Lane,
of Summit and Washington, makes an
effort this week to reply to '.The News !"
remarks upon the railway taxation ques-
ton. He is successfully abusive and
quite unsuceessfully Representatives.
cept in one particular. In this one re-
speet he is absolutely right. No doubt
he was prompted by the attorney Of one
of the railways that have captured his
little Summit sheet. for of course he
never thought Of the thing himself.
The point he lays hold Of is the prepos-
terous differentiation of personal pro-
perty in this city.
But is the complaint of unequal taxa
ton in favor of the railroads in Jersey
that town assessed fairly and out Of pro-
portion to railroad property Let the re-
port of the State Board of Taxation
should not be less than 50 per cent. of
the real valuation. In Jersey City the
report Of last year shows the real valqa-
atoms ss.sio. $50. Here the personal is
Only a little over Z per cent OF the total
assessor VALUATIONS. IN 1uQSOu 1UuHtg
the percentage is 5 per cent, In all other
counties except Camden, the proportion
of personal to real valuation runs up to
whole State is &.l per cent. The mean
irg of this is that about $780, 00 ,oQ of per
sonal property owned in Jersey City pays
swell the amount to at least $50. 900. coo.
It appears that this license of personal
property o-wners--nearly all people well
hribe which the Official gang in Jersey
City has been paying to Keep the tax
nayers quiet willis the gang was de /
favored real estate owners in Jersey City
are and have been year after year assess
valuations being not above 10 and 20 per
cent. of the real value. Ei.s 1asaxs :
While one may laugh at the rhetoric
of this screed. one annot ignore sflhe
fact. 9TH News" has many times pega5
tested against the immunity accorded 40
personal property in this city and the
consequent heaping up Of burdens upon
the owners OF real estate. Year after
year. when the tax levy was in course
of preparation, we AVE protested against
the abuse and called uponzdhe Tax Conn
missioners to advance the assessment at
least to something Ike the proportion
that prevails in Newark about 3ospeb
cent. Of the true value. But the pfae1
tlce in this city for years has been tostax
only the bank stock. the plant of a-fepl
conspicuous corporations and one 6rftwo
other items easily reached. and it is "a
terribly uphill job to overcome the fixed
practice of a generation. However. there
has been a slow but steady Improvement,
and 1t Is not too much to say hat twfcs
as large a proportion of the personal pro-
perty OF the city is now assessed as was
taxed four years ago.
Mr. T. Lanes discovery of this abuse
does not make the injustice of railroad
exemption any the less. Two wrongs do
not make a right. The fact stands Just
this way. that about one-thsrd of ali the
real estate in the city limits pays some
thing less than one per cent. taxes. while
the other two-thirds pays 2.75. 1t is a
fact that the one per cent. property re-
ceives just the same police and fire pro-
TecJ1QH ms f1t k.1 Per celli-f II mas tHe
same use of the streets, the gas, The cleo
trscity, the water-such as it is-of every
Convenience or facility that the city af-
fords. 1t is true the cars do not go to
school: but the children Of the railway
employees do. and hundreds of the em-
p1oyes themselves were rendered fit for
their present work by attending the pub
lie schools. In respect to these, the rafls
roads are certainly In no different po-
sition from the Sugar House or the Pas
sale Zinc Works. both Of which are as
sessed by the local authorities and pay
the full local rate.
There is simply no reason or common
sense in the pleas for railroad exemption.
Nobody but their stockholders and their
hired attorneys and ied-editoss pretend
that there is. r. Lanes appeals to hay
SEED prejudice arc simply repetitions OF
the Ingenious f~ailacies invented by Mr.,
v~reaenburSh for the purpose of giving
Republican legislators an xcu for do
in9 the bidding OF their bosses.