Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1907-11-19
1T
INTO HIDING
Vast Amount Of Property Es-
Gaping Taxation.
impossible TO Force Men to Assess
Some Kinds Of Property Under
the Present System.

The general property tax was put
into effect in Kentucky partly because
It was believed that under the old sys-
tenn a great deal of property In the
shape of money, bonds, stocks, mort
cages, lien notes and other evidences
OF credit escaped taxation. It was
hoped that by rigid system OF assess
ment and inspection a greater amount
Of this class OF property could be
brought to light, greatly increasing
the revenues Of the state.
The system has succeeded In bring
ing some Of this kind Of property to
light, but there is still an enormous
amount Of It that escapes taxation.
The general property tax, It should
be remembered, DEGREES that the same
tax must fan on all classes of property.
Let us suppose a man, living in almost
any town in the state, is the owner of
a land note for $1,000, on which per
cent interest is paid him In some of
the towns in the state his combined
town, county and state tax would be
over 50; in most OF them IL would be
between $3.50 and So Manifestly, a
man will be very unwilling to give in
for taxation piece OF property that
yields him 6 per cent only, when by
80 reporting II he condemns himself
10 having to give up nearly half tho
income from that property to the tax
collector.
Perjury or confIseatlon,
But the greater part of property Of
this class does not pay as much as
per cent. A vast amount OF this prop
erty held In the state, perhaps as
much as half OF IT, is property held in
trust for the beneht of widows and
children who are not able to earn
money themselves. but depend for
their support upon the income from
property that has been left them By
the husband and father and which
will be largely invested in notes.
stocks, bonds and this general class of
property. In normal times much Of
this class Of investment will not pay
over 4 per cent, the income running
from 4 to 5lS per cent If, now, the
tax rate absorbs from 21a to per
cent, 1t will be readily seen that very
little is left for the support OF these
helpless people
The temptation TO conceal property
when the tax on II will absorb from
One-half to thPee-fourtns Of the income
It yields Is stronger than the normal
man can resist, and as a rule he does
not try to resist it in any state where
this system of the general property
tax prevails, and that is why the tax
authorities of states are coming so
generally to denounce it. In Kentucky
the evasions of the tax on this class
OF property are enormous. In Septem-
Der, 1905, only $11, 480,000 of bonds,
only $1,43S,195 of stock in corpora
lions and only s19.046.s37 of bank de-
posts was given in for taxation, al
though the banks and trust companies
OF the state contained in that year
$93, 500, 900 of deposits At the same
time the assessors were able to find
only S5,407 ,512 of money outside the
banks, or a total Of about $1S,500,0O0
of money That there should have been
them only about $SS, 0OO.O 900 OF deposits
in the banks Of the entire state OF
Kentucky is the most damDing proof
of the supreme economic folly OF our
system.
Effect on Value Of Real Estate.
We may mark the secondary effect
OF this policy In the valuation of real
estate 1t takes capital and accompa-
nying prosperity to enhance real es-
tate values. In 1880 the as.
sessed real estate valuation was
1886, OS5. 9OS, or $3.50 per capita
In 1890. before our new constitution
with the present tax system went into
effect, the valuation increased to 1903
per capita, In 1900, after eight years
OF the new tax system, it had In
creased to $2O9-an increase OF only
IS per capita. The total assessed
wealth of the state in 1880 was $212.63
per capita. In 1890, just before the
new constitution, it had increased to
S275.SO. From 1890 to 1906. with II
years under the new tax system. II in
creased only to 1898 per capita-An
increase Of less than SIS per capita in
16 years.
Under our old constitution. with all
its imperfections, there was some lati-
tude given to localities in the encour-
agement Of industries The new con
stitution adopted In 1891 abolished
most OF this, but did allow municipal.
ties to give five years exemption to
new manufacturing concerns. The act
putting this clause of the constitution
into effect was not passed until 1898.
The decade, then. from 1880 to 1890
illustrates the progress possible under
the old liberal system; the decade
from 1890 to 1900 illustrates the result
Of the narrow policy OF the new con-
stitution before partial exemption be-
came effective, and the years since
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