Mexico Missouri message. (Mexico, Audrain County, Mo.) 1899-1918, 1902-04-10

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same kind, held and used for the
same or similar purposes within
I the SINE jurisdiction, cannot law
fully he So classified as that one is
| subjected to the tax and the other
exempt merely because one belongs
to Il natural person aud the other
to Il corporation, or that one is
! the obligation of Il corporation and
the other natural person, or one
that of large concern and the
other that of small one Fur
thcr on was used this Ian
guagc: Unequal taxes may not
be imposed upon property of the
same kind, in the same conditions
and used for the same purposes.
Equality is the very essence Of the
taxing power ITSELF 1t seems TO
me this is II good law. aud it is if
either the Federal or State cOnsti-
tutions stand for anything, Now,
my contention is that | am not re-
ceiving the equal protection guar
antced to me by either the organic
law of our State or nation. Banks,
corporations, do not list Il single
note they hold for taxation and are
relieved from so doing by statute
law. They are only required to
list 6j per cent of their capital
stock and surplus less the value of
their real estate, which is assessed
like all other real estate of like
nature aud situation, and when it
is all figured mp they usually pay
taxes on from ouc-third to one
tenth of the amount of money they
have loaned out. My capi tai
stock consists of land, cattle.
horses. hogs, sheep, farming i'm
elements, household goods, etc. =,
etc, and | make my list as, com
pletc as any banks. If | have
any money or notes on the LIST
day of June the assessor lists them
both at at 100 cents on the dollar,
thereby discriminating against me
in favor of the banks. When Il
note is in my hands it must be
listed for taxation at its full face
value, but can sell it to bank
and its taxing value is lost. But
again if | should see fit to purchase
it back it can be assessed, which |
claim to he an unjust discrimina-
ton against natural persons and in
favor of artificial persons, or cor
pOratiOns.
What little | have in notes
counts nothing, and it would be
much cheaper for me to pay my
taxes in the regular way than to
defend suit, which ] will be com
PEELED to do. My object i'll this
fight is to more fully bring to mo-
tice the infamy of our tax laws and
uncover the fact that the rights of
private citizens are ignored and
corporations are protected under
our statute law. If the Third
Amendment had been upheld, or
any other law relieving the debtor
classes from paying taxes only on
what they actually own and re-
curing the creditor classes to do
the same, would not be making
this fight; but when | see the good
citizens of our county actually
compelled to pay about 100000 IN
taxes per year, that they in justice
do not owe Il cent Of. thereby re-
licving capital to that extent, |
feel that some one should enlist in
their cause. place the estimate
at $40. 900 advlscdly, and am sat
islcd it is not too high, for the
taxes collected in our county
amount annually to more than
$l3O 900, including city taxes, and
our best authorities claim that
from 30 to 40 per cent Of all taxes
collected are from the debtor
classes on property not paid for.
| have placed the estimate, You
can see. at about the lowest mark.
At the same rate it can he safely
figured that more than - 600 900
in taxes are annually collected
from the weak, or debtor, classes
in this State on property they do
not own.
do not want to he understood
from this article that it is II thrust
at banks, for it is not intended for
that purpose at all | am con-
nccted with bank myself, and |
believe all our banks are good in