The Greenville journal. [volume] (Greenville, Ohio) 1850-1918, 1907-06-13
TAX SYSTEM DECRlEO
Business Men of the State Want
Radical Changes.
Tax Commission of Ohio Asked to
Recommend a COnStitu-
! tiOnal Amendment.

One of the most successful meet
ings held bT the Tax Commission OF
Ohio was that of May 6, which was de-
voted to the mercantile and manufac-
turing interests of the state. Repre-
sentatives from a score of business
organizations in Ohio were present.
Almost to a man the delegates told
the members of the commission that
only a constitutional amendment
would give tax payers relief. Those
who discussed the subject of Tax
alton" were: Chas u Shryock of the
GAINESVILLE Chamber of Commerce.;
VIM. o. Mathews, representing the
Cleveland Chamber of Commerce and
the Ohio Tax League; w. H.
Burtner of the Cincinnati Bust
ness Mems Club Edward L. Buck
walter of the Springfield Commercial
Club; Nelson w. Evans of the Ports
mouth Board of Trade; Geo. T. Spahr
of the Columbus Board of Trade; c.
A. Malone of the Chillicothe Board Of
Association of Salem; +. B. Willard
of the Ironton Board of Trade; E. NJ.
Thresher of the Dayton Chamber of
Commerce, and c. W. Gilgen, F. A.
Hardenstein and Judge James B. Ken
nedy of the Youngstown Chamber of
Commerce. Peter Witt, city clerk Of
Cleveland. also made an address.
Herewith briefs of some of the ad-
dresses are given and from time 70
time extracts from all of the papers
will be carried in these columns.
From a paper by f. NJ. Thresher of
the Dayton Chamber of Commrce:
There is just and widespread dissat-
isfactiOn with the system of taxation in
force under the present constitution, as
being inadequate ard inefficient.
However well it may have been adapt
ed to existing conditions when it was
adopted. it has utterly failed to meet the
changing conditions which time has
brought, and it has become thoroughly
discredited.
An attempt to patch it up by any
other than radical changes will be only
to invite failure and retard the wheels
of progress.
No person well informed as to existing
conditions will claim that the invest
ments in real estate owned by the citi-
Zens of Ohio are taxed by a uniform rule
at their full value in money.
AS for their investments in personal
property, they are, for the most part, not
taxed at all, because they are not pro-
duced, and when taxed at all, it is by a
very different rule from that which OBJ
tains in the case of real estate. Taken
together. they fail to secure the returns
which they ought to yield. and tend to
Oppress the honest man who tries to obey
the law. while granting immunity to the
dishonest man who tries to evade 1t.
Moreover, the stately an indirect use
of the taxing power-under the form of
fees and licenses IS raising large sums of
money in way not contemplated when
the constitution was adopted. The ten
dency of which is to bring the conStitu-
tion itself into discredit.
The essence of the difficulty seems TO
lie in the attempt to make the ocnstitu-
tion deal with details rather than with
principles.
The proper remedy. in my judgment,
Is only to be found in an amendment Of
the constitution which shall give to the
general assembly power to classify all
proper subjects for taxation in such a
manner that
No subject shall escape it's proper
share of the burden.
No subject of the same class shall
be taxed more than once.
The tax shall in all cases be uni
form to subjects of the same class
and just to the subject taxed.
In my humble judgment 1t is only in
some such way as this that the present
inequalities and injustice of our present
system of taxation can find a proper
remedy and order be restored out of the
existing chaos.
From the address of E. B. Willard
of the Ironton Board of Trade:
"The principal ground of complaint
that hear is the taxation of corpora
tions under the Willis law.
"AnOther SeriOus COmDlaint ia