The Paducah evening sun. [volume] (Paducah, Ky.) 1906-1929, 1907-11-12
TAX SYSTEM HAS
INCREASED BURDEN
OF THE FARMERS

When the last constitutional con.
'eniion in Kentucky drew up the pres
fnt organic law Of the state. It found
existing throughout the state a gen.
eral feeling of dissatisfaction, because
through the faulty administration Of
the old revenue law one exemption
after another had crept in until the
old system was full OF inequalities.
The convention desired to perfect
tax system which. II believed, would
secure absolute uniformity in the bur
den of taxes. II, therefore, inserted
In the constitution section III. which
says that taxes shall he uniform upon
all classes of property within the ter.
ritorlal limits Of the authority lcvylng
the tax. This VAS done in the belief
that uniformity Of method would PR
luce uniformity OF result and of bur
den.
II was urged in behalf Of this pro.
posed section that It was demanded
in justice to the farmer, in order that.
since his property was of a visible
ana Tangible nature and could not as-
raro assessment, all other property
should be put in the same boat.
No one over disputed that this ough.
m be done The only dispute was as
Ia whether or not Il could he done
by this method II was ooniended
that certain classes OF property. which
were u n kind that could be con.
ccalcd. would escape assessment and
taxaton II the burden OF taxation nut
upon them was too heavy, and that
The result would be that the real cs.
tate and such visible personal prop.
erty as the farmers live stock nnd
the merchants goods and the house.
holders furniture would bear an IN.
due proportion OF the burden of rails.
ing the public revenue.
Put The general property tex was
imbedcoi Ia our constitution. and we
have been trying 1t harder than over
Tor tic sixteen years tina; have
elapsed since the constitution was
adopted. and II has proved anything
but uniform and has not served to
distribute the burden Of taxation
equally Under this system, a great
deal of property in our cities escapes
taxation In spite OF the activity Of
auditors agents. much of It is not
brought 10 light The consequence
OF this Is that an unfair burden uf
the support Of the state falls upon
those who own property that can not
be hidden away. and these people are
chiefly the farmers.
The farmer pays more tax on per-
scnal property in proportion TO real
estate than does the city man under
the present system. In the five coun.
ties IN the state which contain all the
cities Of the first and second classes
Jefferson. Kent6n. Campbell, Fay
cite and McCracken. the assessed per.
souality is 20 per cent Of the total as.
sessmcnt In the rest OF the state Il
is "a per cent OF the total assessment.
The five counties named. which may
be called urban counties. contain
3GG2 per cent OF all the realty in the
state and assess only 81 per cent of
all the personally.
The amount OF money. bonds, ac-
counts and similar personally. as
sessed by these counties, is hess than
Z per cent OF their total assessment.
In the rest of the state the amount Of
such property assessed is nearly II
per cent OF the total Manifestly, 1t
Is true that the man in the country
does not find II so easy to conceal his
personal property. and he has not the
incentive furnished by a high tax rate
TO conceal H.
In the county OF jefferson, contain.
ing the city Of louisville, personally
is 225 per cent of the total assess.
ment In Kenton county. containing
the city OF Covington. personally is
li2 per cent of the total in Camp
hell with the city OF Newport. It is
l6 per cent. Fayette county. with
Lexington. does better. its personally
being "a per cent OF the total, but Il
is well known that the rural portions
VI Fayette county contain an amount
IT wealth unusual in any agricultural
community.
On the other hand, take the follow.
ing counties. which are distinctly