Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1898-02-22

| q very few exceptions, the great fortunes
IN this country are invested in such Sc
cCr1tles. TIE delinquency appears to be
| located largely In our great cities. Recon;
Investigations of students of political sci
| epce and recent tables prepared by state
omcials. have disclosed an appalling con-
dition of things The evil seems to have
| been progressing until, in some of our great
| ctEters OF population and wealth. these
Terms OF personal property seem to have
been almost eliminated from the tax list
| In New York state the proportion OF
| personal property assessed for taxation is
| only about II per cent of the total amount
/ OF property taxed. Yet Controller Roberts
| OF that state expresses the opinion tina.
| the taxable personal property owned in the
| state Is at least equal to the amount of
| real estate. Illinois and many other states
present the same condition, differing only
| in degree.
1T is easy to see how this ofrense against
| patriotism has grown to such proportions.
| The very sense that inequality is Injustice
| has promoted it. One man sees that his
! reighbor Is not making a conscientious tax
| return and that If he returns his property
honestly he will pay disproportionately.
| The result Is that his conscience finds a
| salve in The saying 'Everybody does it,
1t Is probably also true that under the
tax laws of many of our states double tax
| alton results, and taxpayers take it upon
themselves to remedy this defect ir the
| law, not. by the methods prescribed in the
Constitution. but by leaving of from their
tax returns such stocks and securities as
>A'Ns SNPpoSC W NC tdAcu III OlHeT
An Honorable Obligation.
Taxes are a debt of the highest obliga-
| ton. and no casuist can draw a sound
moral distinction between the man who
hides his property or makes a false return
in order to escape the Payment of his debt
| to the state, and the man who conceals
| his property from his private creditors.
Nor should il be more difficult to follow
the deiaulter In the ore case than in the
other If our taxes were farmed out 10
Individual OF to corporation they would
| be collected as fully private debts are
| now collected. There would be a vigilant
| and unrelenting pursuit. The civil and
| criminal processes of the law would be in
| voked with effect, just as they were against
| fraudulent debtors under the bankrupt law.
| when to this enormous AID crying evil
| Is added the corruption which it is alleged
| has characterized the appraisements of
| real estate we have a condition of things
with which We dare not pater We must
| tnaugurate. and at once system that
| shall equaliZe tax burdens. The men of
| wealth in our great communities should
| lead the movement This great club,
| gained as a rallying center for loyalty AMI
| patriotic citizenship, should hear call as
| loud and Imperative that which came
| to II during the years of the civil war.
| Mr.. Lincon's startling declaration that
| this country could not continue to exist
| half slave and half free may be para
phrased today by saying that this country
| cannot continue to exist half taxed and
| half free.
| This sense of Inequality preathes a fierce
| and unmeasuring anger-creates classes
intensifes social differences. and makes
| men willing to pay their debts in half dol
| lars The just saci edness of these money
| obligations, the right of the holders to be
| paid in money of full value. will he clearer
to these angry men if they that these
! securities are paying fully their lawful
| taxes.
| Where is the moral distinction between
! of tiraer hnva Sy,I aierh
| boris pocket and clandestinely ahstracting
his pocket book and the frauduIenty shift
| ing of debt that L owe to another?
| IF there is not enough pull lie virtue left
| in our communities to make tax frauds
| diScredttable; IL there is rot virility enough
| left in our laws and in the administration
| of jus tice in our courts to bring to punish
| nent those who defraud the state and their
| reighbors; If crimes of fraud may stalk
! unrebuked and unpublished in our streets
| how long will it be until crimes of violence
make insecure the fortunes that have re-
| fused to contribute ratatly to the cost of
| maintaining social order?
Evasion Brings Trouble
1.-The failures which have accompanied
| in an increased ratio. the attempt to col
| lect the personal property tax have led
| many tax reformers to favor it's total abo-
| lition, and the substitution of other forms
| of taxation. The failure of the wealthy
| holders of these intangible securities to
pay their just proportion Of the cost of gov
eminent has stimulated a demsrd for spe-
cial forms Of taxation and for progressive
| ia Xation with view in some measure to
| recoup to the community the losses which
are inflicted by evasive and fraudulent tax
| returns. These efforts should serve a
| warning. The people will not consent that
| this state of things shall be accepted as a
permanent condition. If We are to leave no
taxes save such as in their nature neces-
| sarily exclude concealment and bribery,
-haf faY xvt1l in Wa limit fh,a
disgraceful conclusion that the state of
| public and private morals has become such
| in our country that the wealthy may not
| be brought under the law and compelled to
yield 1t reverence and Obedience, have We
rot confessed the failure of republican in
situations?
Before the adoption of the Constitution,
when each state made its own tariff laws,
| the power to levy imposts was practical
| ly nuliified by the competitions between
| the states. They underbid each other in
| the competition between their ports. The
| solution was found In conflri ing the tax
| upon imports wholly to the national gov
eminent. In a measure the same embar-
| raSsment is now being felt in the framing
and administration of the tax laws of
| the several states. Real simulated
changes OF residence are made from one
| state to another. with a view of finding the
| most favorable tax condition or the most
pliable asSeSSors.
1T is not easy, however to see how a
| federal control of these questions can be
established. The states are not likely to
| surrender such important powers to the
national government. 1t is more than
questionable whether New Jersey and
Connecticut, for instance, could be induced
to forego the inducements which their
| tax laws the administration of them
may offer to wealthy New Workers.
Yet, l think it would be quite we'll to
assemble a convention of tax commission
ers from all the states to discuss this in
| tricate and exigent problem. Possibly
some general principles might be agreed
upon that would remedy the just COM
plants Of double taxation, especially in
the case of corporate properties and Sc
curities.
Il do not believe that it is impossible so
to stir the consciences of our people, so
| to stimulate the independence and courage
CT our assessors and of our courts and
prosecutors to secure a fairly general
enforcement of the personal property tax
| l know that men hesitate to call a neigh
Dor to judgment in this matter. We have
too much treated the matter of a mans
tax return as a personal matter. We have
put his transactions with the state on
| much the same level with his transactions
with his bank, but that is not the true
basis. Each citizen has a personal inter-
est, pecuniary interest, in the tax re-
turn OF his neighbor. We are members of