The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1899-07-27
A SHAMEFUL RECORD
MILLIONAIREs OF NEW YORK CITY
DODGE TAXES ON 13-14THS OF
!. THEIR WEALTH.

MILLIONAIREs OF NEW YORK CITY
DODGE TAXES ON 13-14THs OF
j. THEIR WEALTH.
Their Taxes ON the Poor.
IAN Open Letter to the New York Tax
Assessor)
It is not the Verdicts aim to drive
away your appetite. Neither has it
formed designs against your sleep. But
it would, in the interests of fullest light,
pray you to permit question. You are
set to fix the taxes. And to do that you
began by fixing the assessments. In do
ing the latter, you, in the aggregate,
put personal property in Greater New
York, roundly speaking at $8,OOO,O00,-
600; and real property at, say, one-third
that sum. Then you cut down, or
"erase" from the personal property es-
innate something like $7,40O,000, and
leave the aggregate personal property
assessment at $545,806,565. In short,
you slash and slice your personal prop
erty estimate some thirteen-fourteenths
Meanwhile, you reduce your real esti-
mates only bit over $21 100000, or
about one-ninth. Is this fair? Is it
honest? Is it what you were put in Of
flee for? Isn't it true that in proper
proportion real estate marks one-quar-
ter and personal property three-quarters
of the whole wealth of the city? Isn't
1t true that personal property should
pay Is per cent Of the city's taxes, and
real property 25 per cent? And now
you've got through, haven't you so far
overturned justice that real estate is to
pay fve-sixths of the tax, and personal
property one-sixth? Why do you do
this? Every time you cut dollar of
the personal property assessment,
doesn't it pile dollar on to real estate?
Who owns the grand bulk of personal
property? Isn't it the rich corporations
and individual millionaires? Who pays
the real estate tax? Isn't it the occu-
pant, whether he be owner or renter?
Doesn't "the consumer" pay2 Doesn't
every landlord, in fixing rents, add his
are composed? And the renter pays it,
doesn't he? Isn't 1t true that for every
dollar of tax shirked and lied out Of by
some rich corporation, dollar Is i'm
posed upon the lean renters of the
town? Why do you permit the rich,
then, to shift their taxes to the shoul-
ders of the poor? You can't prevent it.
you say? They "swear 1t OFF," What
of that? You're not obliged to accept
these lying afidavits, are you? They
don't make it res adjudicata, do they?
You can, when it lies, call corporation
a perjurer? It isn't true, is it, that
because mans rich he's honest? Here's
the law which sets you going in this
''swear-off'' business, and is supposed to
guide you: IF the assessment be deter
mined by the board of taxes and assess
ments to be erroneous, it shall cause the
same to be corrected, and fix the amount
of such assessment as the board of taxes
and assessments may believe to be
just" There, you see, your Belief" is
told to take you by your tax-gathering
hand and lead you. And you are direct
ed to go with your Belief"
Here is some of your work. The Ver-
dict asks you to look at it and then say
vh4%I lev
ing oath on file or no-these assess
ments to be just?
Andrew Carnegie $3.50, 900
VIM. C. Whitney ............... $4,000
J. D. Rockefeller ............... 100000
c. Vanderbilt .................. 100000
Russell Sage ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. 100000
Pierpont Morgan ......... 100000
Do you mean to tell the people that
these men in personal property are
worth no more than the sums you've set
against them? And save in the one
case of Morgan, there's no "swear-off
in any of the above instances. You
lieve that VIM. C. Whitney isn't worth
more than $4,000 in personal estate?
That's the figure you put down for him.
Isn't it true that he's worth 100000, 900?
And you've assessed him for one-sixth
of l per cent Of that Good showing
you make, don't you? And for every
dollar Whitney shuns, some poor renter
pays. doesn't he? Do you thing your
method makes Democratic votes? One
thing sure-your method 100 years ago
made the French revolution. And you
put down Carnegie at $15O,O00! That
was lovely of you, wasn't it? Don't you
"believe" Carnegie is worth more than
that? Remember, he's giving awav
millions, SO he tells us. Wouldn't it he
better for him to pay his just taxes be-
fore he begins to make gifts? And John
Rockefeller at 100000! and Sage at
100000! and Morgan at 100000! Do
those sums show your best belief
touching the riches of these folk? If it
does, you had better resign. And you
stick in that exile, VIM. Waldorf Astor,
for 100000! How did you get at that?
Don't you know that if Astor is worth
$2OOO,000 in personal property-for his
wealth is real estate-there isn't name
on the above list who shouldn't be
down for $10OOO,OO If you can be so
Snarp Tor AStOr whv are Won s0 dnl1 for