The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1896-03-24
produced 1888, sos. Is that a fair dis
tribution of taxes?
Disparity in Ownership.

1nere Is, moreover, q WlQe O1SpdTlL.
IL the ownership Of the property as
sessed for taxation, in these islands
In 1893, when SO. 495 persons paid pol
taxes of 81 each, 275 individuals an'
112 corporations paid taxes amounting
TO 1925, $40 90 out of a total of 1888.
412 intern. i taxes collected. 1t is evi
dent that we have in this country
dispToportionately large class of thos'
of whom Horace Greeley says, "Ther'
is nothing between hunger and them
| selves but daily toll"
Yet it is equally erident that it would
be of no advantage to the country If the
275 persons who pay taxes on property
of over $4,000 in value were put on {
social and industrial equality with the
| $4,000 who pay only poll tax, or but
/ little more. 1t is not by any leveling
down process that millennial happiness
! is to be secured, but by a constant up
! lift of the whole community to a plane
of moral and spiritual equality.
In the slow process of social evolution
the different factors do not work to-
gether at the same rate; but as in a
boys growth, one year the limbs will
/ lengthen, another year the trunk will
thicken, and SO on. The general pros
perity of the country is attested by the
steady growth in the revenue Of the
Government, which must bear some
similar ratio 10 the increasing income of
the people as a community.
From 1856 to 1876 for ten successive
biennial periods. the revenue increased
from $419, 228 to 81 ,008, $50, a little more
than double, while the population de-
creased about one-ffth, from 73 1873 to
81 1885. From 1876 to 1894, for nine
successive biennial periods, the revenue
increased three and one-half times to
So, 5S7 ,2O4, while the population increas-
cd to 100,374, an increase Of 70 per cent.
Question of Public Debt.
But in the same period, 1856 to 1894,
while the revenue has increased about
eight and one-half times, the public
debt has increased about from $22 900
to So All ,459, or 1874 times, involving an
annual in crest charge of over $3.50, 900,
or about one-sixth of the regular an
nual expenditure OF the Government.
This reminds one Of the attempts of
one boy to out-brag another: We've
got a cupalo on our house. We'll,
what of that, we've got mortgage on
ours" The day has gone by if ever there
was such a time, when a national debt
could be regarded as a national bless
ing. 1t is undoubtedly sometimes ad-
visable to eXpend for a home more
ready money than can at once be COM
handed, and mortgage may be a
wise investment, as a reasonable dis
count for present worth Of money to
be more easily secured at some future
time. But such a financial showing as
this of the resources and expenditures
of this country, as at present managed,
would seem to indicate that we are
putting off payment of too much of the
pecuniary obligations on account of
public improvements, if not of the funds
to meet current expenses, by the easy
process of running into debt.
We do not raise annually sufficient
amount of money to pay promptly for
needful and legitimate public expendi-
lures. Some ultra economical individu-
ais may indeed exclaim, What has
posterIty done for us, anyway, that we
should be taxed for their benefit?" Ger
tainly, it must be acknowledged, the ex-
pense of some part of such public bene
fits as extend on into the indefinite flu
ture may we'll be left in the shape of
government bonds for the succeeding
generations to pay. But it would seem
as if the amount raised now by taxation
was altogether inadequate to the neces-
sites of the case.
Method of Ass osSing Taxes.
In considering this state of affairs it
would seem that some other method
of assessing the taxes might we'll be
adopted Who will say that the valu- !
alton on the assessors books is fair or |
correct in all cases? 1t must be acknowl- !
edged that it is a most difficult matter |
to devise a working system so as equi- |
Iably to appraiSe all personal property. |
The question of values involves so |
may different elements that one who is |
not an expert might as we'll attempt to |
the weather as to fix a |
correct value on property. Take Chi |
;ago, for instance, where between 1873
and 1893 new buildings were erected |
which cost $41S, 900, 900, while the whole |
valuation of real estate in Chicago, in
Guiding all Improvements, was put |
Down on the assessors books in 1893 |
1T only $123, 745, 900. This departure
rom any fair valuation is accumulated |
n this instance by the further fact that
buildings of large property owners are
assessed at one-tenth of their market
value, while the residences of persons
Of moderate means are assessed at
about what the owners would be viii
ing to sell them for. While in Boston
hold $6OO,OO0,OO0 worth of
shares in foreign corporations, only
40, 600, 900 pay the State tax. There are
PRACTICAL difficulties in the management
# all such matters as is evident from
he discrepancy in the views of govern
nent officials and property owners
when assessments are made for eX-
,enses and benefits in widening our
present narrow streets.
CTo be continued)
All last winter Mr.. Geo. A. Mills, of
lebanon, Conn, was badly afflicted
IL 4 - = 1