Crittenden record=press., 1907-11-21
DRIVES IT
INTO HIDING
Vast Amount of Property es-
Gaping Taxation.
Impossible to- Force Men to Assess
Some Kinds Of Property Under
the Present System.

IL was believed that under the old sys
TEN great deal of property in the
shape of money. bonds. stocks. mort
cages. lien notes and other evidences
of credit escaped taxation II was
hoped that by a rigid system OF assess
ment and inspection 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 20
light. but there is still an enormous
amount of it that escapes taxation.
/. The general property tax. II should
be remembered. decrees that the same
tax must fall 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 Dee
over So, in most OF them IL would be
I between $3.50 and 81 Manifestlv. a
man will be- very unwilling 10 give in
for taxation a piece of property that
/ yields him e. per cent only. when by
so reportins q he condemns himself
10 having 90 give mp nearly half the
/ income from that property 20 the tax
/ collector
Perjury or confse alton.
But the greater part OF property ~
/ this class does 40, pay as much as Is
/ per cent \ vast amount IF this prop
erty held iu the state. perhaps a.
much as hali OF IL. is property held iu
trust for the benefit ~ widows aud
children who are not able 20 earn
money themselves but depend f5r
their support upon rhe income from
property that has been left them hv
the husband and father and which
will be largely invested in note.
stocks. bonds and this general class OF
property. In normal times much -
this class OF investment will not paw
over 1 per cent. the income running
from 20 5ta per cent II. now. the
tax rate ahsorbs from 2is 70 per
cent. IL will be- readily seen that very
little is Left for the support OF these
helpless people
The temptation 10 conceal property
when the tax ON it viii absorb from
one.haif to threefougths OF the income
II yields is stronger than the norma
man can resist. aud as a rule he docs
not try fo resi- i-t it in any state whore
this system of the general property
tax prevails. and that is why t.. tax
aur..... "f states are com. so
generally fo d,aHHrr. IL 10 E..Hcsv
The Dta-.Hr- of fhl ..N 0u f. class
of property are enormous lu em.
ber 1905. .ri. sflf.uU0l of bonds
only SI4a>1a- o. stock in corpora.
tions and only sI2o4G.>3- OF h... De-
posirs was given In Tor taxation al
thol-h the banks and trust conn nles
of the state contained in th.- wear
S93.5000OO OF deposits. A. th. anne
time the assessors wore able .n ind
only S5.4O7.-12 OF money out.l. the
bank. or O. total OF about 81 500 600
OF money. That there should har. been
then only about 93.000,O00 OF DEPOSITS
In tho banks OF the entire state OF
Kentucky is tho most damn.ue rroof
OF the supreme economic folly u. our
system.
Effect on Value Of Real Estate.
We may mark the secondary fleet
OF this policy I'm the valuation of real
estate. It takes capital and acclmpa-
nyiug prosperity 10 enhance real es-
tate values. In 1850 tho as
al
1855. .OS5 9OS or slGO per capita.
In 1890. before our new constitution
with the present tax system went into
effect. the valuation increased o. s203
per capita In 1900. after eight Years
OF the new tax system, II had in.
creased 20 $209-an increase OF only
Sc per capita. The total assessed
wealth of the state In 1850 was 2-1263
per capita In 1890 just befol. the
new constitution IL had increased to
$27jS0. From 1890 10 1906. with II
years under the new tax system it in
creased only 10 $293 per carra-an
increase Of less than SIS per capita in
16 years.
Under our old constitution, with all
us lLlell'tllOESt IutIe was some latl-
tudc given 20 localities in the oncour-
agemeut of industries. The new con
stituton adopted I'm 1891 abolished
most Of this. but did allow muuicipali
ties TO give five years exemption 10
new manufacturing concerns. The act
putting this clause Of the constitution
into effect was not passed until 1895
The decade then from 1880 20 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
1900 well show the result of the liberal
policy Of encouragement. Mark then
the result From 1880 10 1890. under
a policy of encouragement, the capital
employed in manufacturing in Ken
lucky increased 74.2 per cent From
1890 to 1900, with all encouragement
withdrawn and heavy taxes imposed,