The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1902-02-12
Reports OF res Experts.

The statements of the commission are
fully confirmed by the experience of the
leading tax experts Of the country. In
his report to the general assembly of
Maryland, in 1873, Prof Richard T. Ely
on page 104, says: IT have first to re-
mark that the one uniform tax on all
property as an exclusive Source of reve-
nue., or the chief-the main feature in d.
rect taXation-never has worked we'll in
any modern community or state in the
entire civilized world, though it has been
tried thousands of times, and although
all the mental resources of able men
have been employed to make it work well.
/ have read diligently the literature OF
finance to find an example but in vain,
and lest this should not be sufficiently
trustworthy, have made 1t my business,
in my capacity of tax commissioner, to
visit typical states and cities and to
make inquiries in person of citizens as
we'll as officials intrusted with the ad-
ministration of the laws. l have visited
Charleston. S. c.; Savannah. Atlanta and
Augusta, Ga; Columbus, Ohio; Madison,
Wis Toronto, Montreal and Quebec,
Canada. And the result has been abun-
dainty to confirm all that / have said
about the impracticability Of the one uni
form tax upon real and personal property.
Prof. Edwin i.I +; A. seligman, in his
page 50, says: PRACTICALLY the general
property tax as actually administered
today, is beyond all preadventure the
worst tax known in the civilized world.
baucnes the public conscience. 1t re-
dEces deception to a system and makes
science for knavery. 1t presses hard
est on those least able to pay. 1t i'm
poses double taxation On one and grants
entire immunity to the next. In short,
the general property tax is so fagrantly
ineCuitdble that its retention can be ex-
plaiEed only through ignorance or inertia
It IS the cause of such crying injustice
that its abolition must become the battle
cry of every statesman and reformer''
Third Point Discussed.
Third-You may adopt the amendments
to the constitution recommended by the
commission.
the legislature will be free to frame a
rational tax system, and there can be
no question that the legislature should
be free. On page 50 your commission
says: No fact is more firmly impressed
upon the mind OF the commission than
the necessity of an early amendment OF
article of the constitution of this state
Since the adoption of the original con-
mentS have tken place in the industrial
world. Both the subjects and the objects
of taxation are, in many respects, diff
ferent now from what they then were"
On page "a: THE legislature of this state
snouIu pe LeIL unnampered in deanng
with this subject according to its wisdom
save as restrained in the manner above
expressed.
What your tax system should be I
think it would be unWise at this time to
determine. propose to offer no Sug-
ges tons and trust that if you adopt the
amendments to the constitution it will
not be avowediy done Tor the purpose of
making any specific changes in your
law.
The amendments in themselves are nee
eSSary and so good that their adoption
should not be imperiled by being, even
in thought, bound up with any particular
tax system. The amendments should re-
ceive the votes of all without regard to
their views as to what system the legfs-
lature should see fit to adopt when it
has the power
1t may be proper to point out, how
ever, some Of the directions in which
changes can be made with profit The
commission itself has done this. and done
it wisely. Substitutes for the direct tax
alton Of personal property have been
adopted in many countries, and in some
OF the states, and almost all Of them
are much to be preferred to your pres
ent antiquated policy. For myself,
wish to be distinctly understood as not
dectly or indirectly; but at the same
time would unhesitatingly urge the
adoption of certain substitutes for the
tax on personal property If my choice
were confined to the tax as 1t now exists
or substitute for it. BY some of these
other plans, you can, if you desire, raise
more revenue and impose the burden
more evenly and with much greater JUS
tenn of ad valorem taxation upon per-
sonal property.
AS to Local Option.
The commission recommends what is
known as local option in taxation" and
says: 1T should be left to q large ex-
tent to the political subdivisions Of the
state to determine for themselves the
objects for which revenue is to be raised
therein and the subjects from which it
is to be exacted. - This plan has been
tried in several other countries and in
modified forms, in some parts of the
United States. It allows progressive
communities to experiment for their own
benefit and for the benefit of all the
rest. In it's report the commission quotes
letter from the late David A Wells
one of the greatest authorities on taxa
tlon in his day, insWhieh he gives un-
qualified Endorsement to- the plan Of re-
ducing the size of the political unit which
shall decide questions OF taxation.
The problem of taxation presents differ
ent phases in the great cities of Mime
apolls and st. Paul and in the sparsely
settled rural counties. The system which
may do very we'll for the rural COM
munity is oppressive in a great city and
productive of all kinds of injustice.
The state of Minnesota has a great
opportunity to make a ina gnif iCent afl-