The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-02-27
Rich Men and Taxes.


Rich Men and Taxes.
The address which ex-President Harrison
delivered at Chicago last Tuesday on the
obligation of Wealth" contained much
to arrest the attention of thoughtful men.
One point which he made was that rich
men, in order to have protection for their
wealth, must bear their full share of the
| obligations which wealth imposes. They
must be honest in making their tax re-
turns. and pay their part of the cost of
carrying on state, county and municipal
governments.
The greater part of the great fortunes of
this country are in securities which are
hidden away from the prying eyes of the
tax assessors and il Is believed that the
owners of these fortunes do not make an
honest return of their personal property.
In New York, for instance, only one-eighth
as much personal property is returned for
taxation as real estate, and yet there are
reasons for thinking that the actual value
of the personal property is considerably
more than that of real estate. The same
condition of affairs exists in all the other
states-that is, only a small proportion of
the securities is returned for taxation.
Speaking of the hiding of personal prop
erty, Gen. Harrison said: Takes are a
debt Of the highest obligation, and no
casuist can draw sound moral distinc-
ton between the man who hides his prop
erty or makes a false return in order to
escape the payment of his debt to the
state, and the man who conceals his prop
erty from his private creditors. Nor
should it be more difficult to follow tho
defaulter in the one case than in the
other If our taxes were farmed out to
an individual or to a corporation, they
would be collected as fully as private
debts are now collected. There would be
vigilant and unrelenting pursuit. The
civil and criminal processes of the law
would be invoked with effect; just as
they were against fraudulent debtors I'M
| der the bankrupt law"
1t Is undoubtedly true that there
is growing up a very bitter feeling
against rich men who shirk the burden
of taxation by hiding their possessions
from the tax assessor, and this feeling is
likely to show itself in ugly ways in the
course of time. The rich men who feel
secure in their possessions now, may have
occasion to regret their failure TO deal
honestly with the tax assessor.
There is, however, one phase of this
matter of tax returns which ought to re-
ceive the candid consideration of legisla-
tures-particularly the legislatures of
those states In which securities are taxed
at the same rate as real estate. 1t is
manifestly unfair to tax real estate a its
market value and then tax real estate
mortgages at the same rate. Either the
owner of the real estate ought to be re-
quired to pay taxes only to the extent
TO which his real estate is unencumbered,
or else the mortgage holder ought to be
required to pay only very small tax. In
Philadelphia owners of mortgages are
taxed only four-tenths of one per cent.
of the face value of their mortgage securi-
ties.
1t is a well-known fact that first-class
railroad and other securities now yield
only about 315 per cent interest, while the
tax rate for all purposes in
many towns is pretty close to
per cent. If the holder of such
frst-class securities were to make an hon
est tax return he would have nothing prac-
tically on which to live, even if he pos
sessed a large fortune. After paying his
taxes and a commission to his agents for
looking after his affairs he would have
very little left Where pretty nearly the
whole income is taken for taxes honest
tax returns need not be expected.
There ought to be a thorough revision of
the tax laws with the view of so amending
them that there would be no hesitation in
making returns of personal property.