The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1899-01-06
TAXATION
QUESTION.
Board of Trade Discusses
1t and Other lmpor-
tant Matters.

At tEo Board of Trade meeting last
night questions Of considerable import.
nnca were discussed. tho mos ilnportand
being that OF raj ing the revenues Of the
city without increasing the taxailon on
real estate. The commit 90 having tho
mat'er IN hand reported as follows through
Mr. Rossoll.
Il Tho Undersigned committee appointed
to consider the question OF increasing the
revenues Of tho civ. without increasin 1
the taxes on Zeal estate, re pectfully re.
port as follows:
After thorough discussion OF the subject
we are Of the opinion that under tho sys-
TEN OF taxation lrng established In this
state, and which regulates in great
measure tho exoroiso OF tic taxinG power
delegated to the municipality OF Whining.
ton, it i, scarcely practicable to raise any
; considerable portion. Of the amount r0.
quired to supperesa the city government
from any other ssasca thnn rea estate. I
Wo have found In tho course Of our
Investigation thatii Ea ny citiss of other
states the taxes on roa. o. tate are proper.
tionutely lower by reason of the collection
Of large sums on other kinds OF property
and the payment into tho public treasury
Of tho charges iMposcd upon quast public
corporations !; but these advantages havo
apparently never been enjoyed by the
people OF Wilmington. Itw0uld be only
just % require the corporations now using
tho streets Of this city aG large profit to
themselves to pay share OF the municipall
expenses. but 1t Is questionable whether
under the grants made to these COrpor-
ations tax levied against them cOmmen-i
suratc with tho privileges they enjoy could
be.col.ccted.
Tho problem before the board woul',
therefore, seem TO Ie not how to raise I'D
Litional revenue (,'nco that would only
add to thea!rcsdy excessive burden under
which our real estate owners lai,ot), but
rather how under existing conditions,
some relief can bo secured to them and
their burden 50 lightenel and ABUSED as
to be less oppressive anc more .vcn'y d..
viled. No Intelligent and OBJ ervan1 citi-
zen can doub tint the chiof ho1e Of our
taxpayers lies In q more complete AMI
equitable assessment OF property mud in
the more ef1icipn! and econoiuioul admin
istration Of city affairs. While his mat.
ter j., strictly speaEing, not embraced in
the questions referred to yourtcoir mittee,
yet it relates 50 closely to tho real object Of
our inquiry and involves 50 much OF vital
importance o our citizens that we doom
it pertinent to suggest it, immediate con-
siderason by your board. Respectfully
submitted,
John s. Rosscll,
Joseph l.. Carpenter, Jr.,
NJ. p. Sattcrthwaic,
January 4, 1892. Committee.
Tho reading Of tho report was followed
by discussion iu which every member OF
the committee and several individual
members of tho Board participated Mr..
Rossell was the first to speak. He did not
contend for any particular scheme Of local
& ive,nment He only asked that such
laws ba passsa regulating tho conduct Of
tho city's affairs ns wunld give every citi-
zen voice and a vote in all matters re.
lating to The public seryice-lnws that
wonld holdtiie officials answerabio to tho
people, and require them to exercise the
greatest care and economy. Hefavored n
sy ystt III that would owe its existence and
continuance to the consent of tho govern
ed. He did not think 1t necessary to re.
mind the members of ho Board Of Trade
thai popu'ar governments bnd hot for
many years existed iu Wilmington
Some very excellent people had Ununci-
a ed tho doctrine that in this community
a few seiectmcn 1T long range from the
people wers Infinitely better qualified to
govern tlifvts fsS6pie shan tho people were to
govern themselves. He did not think the
soiu ion difficult. T. was n plain, rac-
tcal busi. es, problem requiring nothing
more than good, hard common sense to
solve. Ceriainlv he situation could not
Le made worse than II Is now. Let COM
prehonsivs scheme Of local lgovernment be
devised and pu5 into operation during tho
next two wears