Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-05-14

dition to the value of Connecticut real es-
tate much greater than the apparent loss IN
personal property. Such an exchange OF
pol1cies would be interesting occurrence.
and one that the inhab itants OF the respec-
tive states would regard with very different
emotions"
New York's Position.
Members of Congress from the state OF
New York well know that the enforcement
In that state OF the law taxing personal
securities is a ridiculous sham, and that an
enforcement of such law. in the manner
proposed by the law now pending in Con-
gress would within two years or less de-
populate New York city of the men who
the world
Not L per cent OF the securities held by
the citizens of that city or OF any other
city in the United States IL may without
exaggeration. be said is reach d by the tax
satherer. and over 80 per cent Of those
that are reached are held by widows or by
trustees for the benefit OF widows and or
phans. From that class OF securities trus-
tees are permitted to invest in how much
OF an income will the widow and orphans
receive after paying a tax of IL per cent
on the principal? Upon what must the pro-
iessional man depend for his own support
ana the support of those depending upon
MIN, who from advancing years is unable to
continue I'm the practice of his profession
py winch, from the labors of a lifetime he
mas been able only to lay by $4,000 or 500
w invested in safe securities at the pres
elt price of such securities? or the widows
OF soldiers, IN Washington for whose main
letance, to exc ont the small pension of
30 or so month, the husbands through
the practice of the strictest economy had
Deeh able TO invest in few bonds? Such
loik cannot, as men Of means can move
away nor can they afford to change the in
Ntstnent TO government bonds that pay
only per cent.
Washington's Disadvantage.
In the matter of taxing personal securi-
ties In the District of Columbia one serious
ulstadNantage under which its citizens la
Dor has possibly been lost sight of. Wash
ington is not nor is II desirable that It
should become a manufacturing or COM
mercial metropolis. Hence necessarily
and as the fact is. there are in the Dis
tflct but few companies Incorporated by
congress. Whereas there are in every
state in the Union hundreds and in some
thousands of corporations the stocks OF
Which are. in the states where incorpor-
ated. exempt from taxation.
This brings US to the consideration of the
complaint made against men who IL is
said, nave come to Washington to escape
from the tax laws of their respective
states. In the first place, 1t may, prob
ably without eXaggeration, be stated that
the men who have FOR that reason moved
TO Washington can be numbered by the
myers of enc hand. For every one OF
these there are a hundred possessing from
ten to fifty thousand dollars of bonds, pay
ing from to per cent interest. But II
there are as many as five who have solely
come to Washington TO escape from the
tax laws of their state. where have they
come from? Certainly not from states
where they are not harassed by unjust and
negotiable personal tax laws. nor from
states in which the law has become
h.. a ftxr ~ IT,
dead letter. They come from states whore
the tax laws Of personal property have not
been changed since the DAYS when safe
ana conservative securities paid from TO
10 per cent, from which today can be OBJ
tained only from to per cent the tax
on which Is from 2is to 3 per cent on their
market value. tax higher than is levied
In any civilized country on the face of tho
earth. But that is not all IL the tax Of
fetal suspect that the poor taxpayer has
not returned all his personal property for
taNatlon, or has not put II In at It's full
market value, they may call him. his en-
ployes and his neighbors up before them
to testify as to what his property consists
or. and IL these officials find that he has
neglected to return all of his securities or
mas failed to place them at their full mar
ket value they not only can correct the
return, but can add 30 per cent to the en-
tire estate. and. as judges, holding evenly
against the taxpayer from - to 10 per
cent on the amount they have added to the
return.
City Builders.
While these reasons for fleeing from an
unjust, confiscatng personal tax law
should exempt from criticism the men who
have been thus forced to do so, there are
other equally cogert reasons justifying
such course. These men I'm building ND
their own fortunes have added hundreds
or thousands and millions of dollars to the
tangible taxable property of the sections in
which they have spent the most valuable por-
lions of their lives. The burden of long
years of business cares and anXieties adj
montsh them that if they would spend
their few remaining years in comfort and
ease they must retire from business that
requires their personal supervision. To ac-
complish this their interest must be sold
and the proceeds invested in conservative
securities, from which. however, under
such tax laws. without the commission of
perjury, no income can be derived
Would il be wise to drive such men from
Washington or to exclude those possessing
such investment who are adjoining the
capital with beautiful residences and other
structures? Such policy would not only de-
preciate the value Of real property far ex-
ceeding the value of all the personal Sc
curties the most stringent measures could
add to the tax duplicate, but ere long Gre
ate an incongruity between the residences
and the public buildings as marked as that
of olden times between the adobe houses
and the palaces of the satraps