The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1900-05-10

omical government; that capital engas-
ed in production should be exempt from
taxation because taxes on capital tend
to drive it away to put premium on
dishonesty and discourage industry. The
president Of the association is Julian T.
Davies, one of the leaders of the New
York bar, and the vice president is John
Claflin, the head of the well known firm
Of H. B. Claflin & Co,
II have come here in the hope that
may be able to make suggestions which
will lead to improvement in the tax
laws in Connecticut, and to do this OF
course l must criticize. But before be-
ginning to find fault, wish to congrat-
ulate you on some of the good things
you have that we lack. Your method OF
taxing steam railroads, l believe, Is SUI
perior to that of any state in the union,
and infinitely superior to the system OF
New York In New York we suffer from
the foolish attempt to tax mortgages,
whereas, with greater wisdom, mort
cages in your state have been virtually
exempt from taxation for many years
I'm the year 1880 you appointed a
special tax commission to inquire into
siN SOllulttoll eillN Noi hlileo VI tiiS toN
laws of the state, and report what
changes, if any, should be made. They
reported in 1881 and concluded their re-
port by saying 'In view of the gross in
equalities of our valuat ton, of the i'm
perfection of our statutes relating to
boards of equalization. of the excessive
taxes now bearing upon some persons,
natural and artificial we earnestly rec
ommend the immediate appointment OF
wise and competent commission to
prepare In detail for the session of the
next legislature a complete and perfect
tax law in place of our present legisla-
ton, which, with many merits and de-
merits, is quite like a piece of patch
work
'The second commission was appoint
ed and made a report, but your laws
were not revised.
I'm the state of New York very able
commission was appointed In 1870 to re-
wise the tax laws Of the state, and they
made a report which has been of great
value, but it produced no effect upon the
Legislature.
II venture to assert that complete re-
vision at one time is a dream which will
never be realized. There is not time
during the session Of the legislature for
the nambrs to study and intelligently
pass upon long and important bill
embodying a new tax law Their pru-
dent conservatism leads them to reject
what they do not fully comprehend,
when the subject is of such great con-
Germ to every citizen.
II shall propose certain amendments
which seem to be great Improvements to
the existing law, and which 1 believe
will lead to still further improvement
REAL ESTATE ASSESSMENTS UN-
EQUAL.
THE report of the bureau of labor
statistics for 1896 proves that there is
great inequality in the assessment of
real estate throughout this state. and
that some towns pay far more than
their share Of county taxes and Others
very much less than their share. When
a state tax is imposed upon the towns
this tax falls most unequally. From
the reports of Connecticut commits
slons 1t appears that efforts have
been made to remedy this difficulty
every few years for the last half
century The commission of 1884
said: AS long as the state taxes the
towns in the existing way, so long must
we expect to find local assessors violat-
ing their duty by systematic undervalu-
atoms on the plea that their town
would otherwise be taxed more than
others. This has been the result of
similar laws, wherever they have been
enacted in other states. The commits
sion recommended the appointment Of
state tax commission similar to that Of
the state of New York.
New York has had a board OF equal
igation ever since 1889, and l sincerely
wish that it was the Success that some
of our Connecticut friends believe 1t to
be. The fact is, however, that in this
we are suffering from the same
evils that exist here In spite of our tax
committee OF the legislature of New
York made last January. the committee
said The most deep seated and ancient
grievance in our system of taxation is
the result of the so-called equalization
Of the assessed valuations Of real prop
erty between the several counties Of
the state. This feature Of our system
has beer most aptly described by one
Of the great economists of the state as
productive of mutual suspicion, of ru
raj and urban communities and intol-
era Bile friction between counties. A
for this difficulty has been
sought in several states, including Con-
necticut by imposing taxes, at fixed
rate, for state purposes only so that 1t
would be unnecessary to impose any
state tax directly upon the counties or
towns. 1t Is tcertain that this plan Is
very imperfect. 1t has always resulted |
In state extravaganza and some times
in a serious deficiency. No plan of tax
alton can possibly be satisfactory which |
1oes not provide a method Of increasing |
Or decreasing revenue in accordance
with the necessity for expenditure.
A GOOD SYSTEM OF STATE AND |
COUNTY TAXATION. |
THE true remedy lies in an entire de- |
1arture from an apportionment of state |
)r county taxes based on assessed valu- |
atoms. Apportionment of state and !
county taxes under this plan is made
IN the basis of revenue. 1t is virtually |
/ tax on the income of the town. If the |
own has large revenue, its tax for
county or state purposes will be pro-
large If it's income is |
mail its contributions to the state will
De small.
L1v, l..