The Lexington intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1901-1949, 1902-11-29
METHODSOF STATE AND LOCAL TAXATION
Failure of the Present Property Tax to Distribute the
Burdens of Government
EDWARD A. Ross ON VARIOUS SYSTEMS.
The SingleT Realty Franchise, capitalization, Income
and Inheritance Plans.


eightieth. Moreover, the matter is
getting worse In California 10 1872
property was assessed at one
half as much as real estate, in 1898 at
as much. 10 Cincinnati in
1866 the two species OF property |
to be equal in volume; by |
1892 realty had increased 1870 per cent
while personal property had shrunk so
per cent,
"Do not imagine the injustice is
solely between the owners Of two
Kinds of property. The case is by no
means so simple. The personal prop
erty Of the farmer consists Of imple-
ments, live stock, household goods,
ETC., and is duly listed. The city, on
the other hand, is the home Of intan-
gible personality, such as notes, mort
cages, stocks, bonds, etc.. which isl
purposelY overlooked by the asse~sar
lest mercantile capital migrate else
where. So the city has the advantage
Of the country, the farmer paying
taxes on al bis property, the man in
the city paying on about half Of his
possessions. The tax puts premium
on dishonesty and debauches the
public conscience. Men who make
honest returns perceive that the tax
rate is So much the higher on account
OF the evasiOns Of others and therefore
they are paying not only their own
dues, but also the dues OF their dis
honest neighbOrs. This penalizing Of
virtue progressively demoralizes men
until, as one commission puts 1t, AS
res afis pagfHR taxes ON intangible
personal property, it is almost as vol
untary and is considered pretty much
in the same light as gifts to the
neigbboring church or Sunday school.
"There are several ways Of recast-
ing the general property tax TO obviate
these evils. One suggestion is to
exempt intangible personality. Let
mortgages be taxed as an interest 10
the land mortgaged. Exempt stocks
and bonds and tax directly the cor
poration that issues them. Another
proposal is TO exempt all personality
and tax only real estate. The farmers
object to this as their ct pital IS to an
unusual degree in the form Of real
estate, but statistics show that in
three-fourths of the states country
property as listed by the assessors is
more largely personal than city prop.
erty; so that the farmer would ex-
perience more relief from the exemp-
tion of personally than would the
city man
THE followers Of Henry George
propose to go still farther. They bid
us exempt improvements as we'll a:
personal property and concentrate
taxation on the value of the bare
land. 1t is idle, however, to rehearsg
the merits Of these proposals in view
OF the stubborn conviction of tht
plain people that all forms of property
and everybody's property ought t.
, contribute to the comoon burden. al
! present the lioe Of least resistance fol
the former is not the recasting OF tht
geneial property tax, but the relega
ting Of 1t to minor place In ou
revenue system. This can be don'
) only by opening other sources o
revenue. Que Of these is the Inherit
! ance tax This tax first emphasize
} 10 the democracies Of Switzerland anC
/ Austria is spreading like wlldhre il
recent years and bids fair to become
animportant source Of public income
: In 1881 this tax was confined 70 hal
dozen eastern states, now II is fouo'
6 in twenty-oue commonweaths Al
1 present it yields u millions as agalns
l2E millions in 1891. There is, how
S ever marked tendency TO make h
: rate higher, to make it progressiv
0 and to apply II to direct hers as wei
4 as to collateral heirs.
S "Another promising tax is chat o
i corporations The general proper
: Tax was In opeta,ion when our j
porate development began, aud Il ws
+ natural to extend it . corporation
a as they arose, Bat soon gario