The Hawaiian gazette., 1905-02-17

Inc underlying principle OF our law,
in taxing real property, is that the ae-
tual market cash value Mt which the
property can be sold is n fair, just and
equitable value on which to assess the
proportion due the Government for all
those benefits it gives in return, among
them the right of the individual to
have and to mold property.
Accustomed, as are our taxpayers by
long usage, to the existing system of
valuation. hesitate to recommend any
change, particularly as our people are
remarkable in their willingness to sup
port the Government ~ the prompt
payment OF all taxes. / venture the
assertion, without fear of contradiction,
that no other community in the Ufiiou,
be it city, county, Territory or State,
can show, in proportion to its popula-
ton, so small ratio of appeals and
delinquencies with such high valua-
tions.
While we can take pride in the fore
going fact, yet is the cash-sale value
as equitable and subject to as little
variation as an adjusted taxable value
An arbitrary valuation-lf you desire
to so define it3 Under the present sys-
TEN the widest variation in valuation
may occur, in close proximity, through
out the Territory.
If our method of assessment were
more thoroughly understood, the criti-
cism to which our tax assessors are
often subjected would be transferred
to the system of valuation under which
they act
There is a demand in some quarters
for Board of Equalization, but, with
out change in this principle, how can
any board equalize valuesf Other com
munities have been constantly at work
aiming to secure a fair taxable value
, on which the revenues of the Govern
, ment should be collected, subject to as
little fluctuation as possible, and in the
determination of which every material
factor has weight. In such cases d
Board of Equalization is of value.
Therefore, / recommend that In tax
ing property of value an exception be
made of leaseholds, requiring the owner
, to pay the whole tax on the full value
of the land. This will cause no loss in
!. revenue.
, In the enactment of such legislation,
provision should be made to except all
, leases now OF record, where the tenant
does not pay all the taxes. If by the
terms of the lease the tenant pays all
taxes, assessing the landlord means
simply that, when the amount is paid,
the landlord collects again from the
tenant, and there is absolutely no need
of separating the two interests.
Thus, gradually, the question of the
payment of the tax on leased lands will
be left to settlement between the owner
and tenant the tax assessor dealing
only with the owner.
INCOME TAX.
, This tax has been on our books for
four years, having been passed at the
J regular session of the Legislature in
1901.
While, technically. it is the fairest
tax that can be devised, yet / have it
on good authority that in America, with
its free institutions, it has not shown
practical results In every case it has
been constantly diminishing revenue
producer, and there is no method of
taxation which has brought about a
, greater lowering of moral tone through
out a community, owing to the facility
with which it can be unscrupulously
avoided because of its secrecy.
In this connection it may be inter
esting to note the returns received
from this tax, although the time of it's
, operation has been so short that 1t car,
hardly be said to have been fairly test
ed in Hawaii:
I (The Governor also recommends an in
heritance tax and a tax on franchises.)
LIQUOR LICENSES.
No problem is more intricate than
the liquor question, and there is none in
the consideration of which it is more
important to eliminate all selfish mo-
tives. We allow no man to be a judge
of his own cause because his interests
would certainly bias his Judgment, and
it is not improbable would corrupt his
integrity. Legislation in the past
seems to have occasionally followed the
recommendations of those interested or
to have been guided by those theorists
who would risk much without consider
alton of the practical side. On no other
J subject, probably, have / had the dis
tinction of being more misunderstood
than upon this one.
My serious objection to existing CON
ditions is that they have engendered
disrespeet and disregard for law, low
cred the standard of public opinion
and created dissatisfaction with our
courts and the efforts of our police in
their attempts to do their duty.
Those who have been intrusted with
permission to deal an intoxicants have
felt that the control of the business by
the Territory rested. entirely with the
police, and that slight infringements on
their part were justified by the greater
deviation from the Jaw by those holding
other classes OF licenses, or for the rea-
son that the machinery of our courts
and police department gave them no
such protection as the payment of their
ncense fee seemed to anticipate.
The police, discouraged by the tech
nicalities of law and the impossibility
of appeal from preposterous decisions
in the lower courts, have despaired of
doing work themselves, and have fallen
back on an antiquated system of paid
amateur spies who, from their unrelia-
bility, have disguised and antagonized
iuries, preventing them from giving any
weight to the real evidence submitted,
causing failure to convict for open vio-
i - Al Has