Evening bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1895-1912, 1896-05-04
THE LICENSE ACT.
a Correspondent Grows Bitter in Dis
cussing Its Provisions.

the duty of all the tax payers in
this community to pay their in
diyidual share for the revenue of
the country is self-evident fact.
The statement Of the Minister OF
Finance clearly shows that the
present revenue for the forthcom-
ing biennial period will not pay
the salaries of a useless and, to
many, obnoxious army, the sala-
ries of the Government officials
and the interest on our loans.
This deficit is due to the inefficient
way in which the taxes are assess
ed and collected, and the dis
closures of the last three weeks
show that the poor man, the small
tradesman, the mechanic and the
Portuguese are and have been
taxed up to the last dol
lar, while the sugar barons, the
monopolists, the corporations and
the large real estate property
holders have in numerous in
stances fraudulently evaded the
just payment of taxes to serious
extent. 1t necessarily devolves
upon the wiseheads in the Senate
to meet this difficulty and their
method of action is plain to all:
namely, to press still harder on
the trading community and to
grind yet finer the men who one and
all are bitterly complaining of the
hard times and comparative loss
of business with former years.
To this end the Licence Act has
been reopened and every possible
petty scheme to license, from
BARRIERS to butchers, has been
sieved through and through to the
last grain.
1t has been known and recog-
nized by all advanced nations and
thinkers that the License Tax is
the most cruel and injurious to the
struggling tradesman and me-
chanic. 1t steps in and deprives
him of the capital with which he
hopes to gain living. 1t prevents
many poor people from endeavor-
ing to make start for themselves
and instead of assisting to make
disappearing producers and
cons liners 1t is an absolute bar to
civil advancement. For example
a man with growing family, an
xious to become his own master,
has saved $500. He believes with
the assistance of his elder children
he can get living and build up
a trade as a book seller.
and stationer, but before he can
sell dollars, worth the Paternal
Government takes from him S57
or sixth of his capital. That S57
spread over years business
makes all the difference between
an economic living and ruin. In
three months he shuts up and the
Government will Of course return
the license money for the unex-
pired three-fourths of year. Not
if they know it. These cases and
hundreds of more pathetic ones
could be adduced.
The Committee on Licenses
have hunted everything in sight
to gather in. Notaries Public
$4,000. Now of my own personal
knowledge / know of more than
five whose books will show that
they have not taken 500 in the last
Next real estate, commission year.
and loan agency. 1t is almost
impossible to separate this bust
ness. The real estate man with
land to buy or sell must be COM
mission agent, and he must lend
or borrow in most cases a part or
the whole of the money to be in
vested. In many instances the
balance to be raised is too small to
be worthy Of the attention of the
banks, and so the real estate
agency must either come under
the utterly absurd category of
money lender at license of
$3.50 or lose the sale. / submit
that the real estate agent is con-
sidered in all advanced states as a
most valuable factor in opening
up the country, making it in the
power of the small men tc
take up land and in every
way beneftting the community,
and for this the wise men in the
Senate would tax him $3.50, moi
on his earnings but on what he
may possibly make. Gentlemen o.