St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1908-12-16
The Tax Problem.

OAASShOs 0S0OSAy w AAON ~
Fish, Fletcher, Davis and other
able Men Voted Down. House
Refuses to Accept Report of Tax
Commissioner and Special Com
mittee of House and Senate.
[From Our Legislative Correspondent.
Can it be possible that the Republican
party is going to repudiate every prom
Use it made to the voters of the state?
The party made explicit promises to the
voters upon conditions that the voters
return an overwhelming majority for the
party at the September election The
voters delivered the goods. Were the
promises meaningless? Were they made
honestly or were they made for catching
votes? We have been defending the pre-
sent Legislature even when other papers
in the state have been condemning it.
We have predicted that before adjourn
merit the Legislature would have accom-
plished something in the way of honest
tax reform. We have proclaimed the
principle that the chosen representatives
of the public would legislate wisely in be-
half of the best interests of the state
We had almost reached the point where
we were willing to believe that we were
indeed living in New Vermont" In
face of all this can it be possible that we
are to be held back by the independence,
or stubbornness if you wish to call it
SUCH Of the representatives who will not
or cannot seer
The tax problem has so overshadowed
everything else here during the past week
that this report must be devoted almost
wholly to that all important question
The vote killing the bill to abolish offsets
showed ia representatives voting
against the bill. From what has been
seen and heard about the measure it is
safe to say that one-half of these men
voted against the bill because they
would not see the truth. The other half
voted against it because, although be-
lieving in the bill, they were afraid of
censure from their constituents 1t is
impossible to believe that any man of in
telligence enough to represent his town
could have listened to the irresistible ar
| guments made in behalf of this bill and
still cast his vote against it unless it was
/ for his own personal interests to do so,
/ or unless he feared his constituents
would not approve of his course. If the
/ honest taxpayers of his town could have
/ heard the arguments both for and
| against this bill they would certainly
censure him for casting a vote against
measure against which there was prac-
tically no logical argument. Every
member of the House has taken an oath
of office binding himself to act upon all
measures as to him shall seem best for
the welfare of the state. We accuse no
man of violating his oath, but we do
claim that many of them have mistaken
the interests OF their own particular
town, or a circle OF their particular
friends, for the interests of the state.
Perhaps all of them believe in the great
est good to the greatest number, but
some of them seem to think the greatest
number is Number One.
If the people of the state of Vermont
could have been present and heard the
discussion of the tax question as it
occurred in the House of Representatives
last week they would have demanded OF
their representatives an overwhelming
vote in favor of the proposed measures
The defeat of the measure at this time is
due to the fact that the people of the
state have not been made familiar with
the question. In view of that fac il
may be well to enumerate the arguments
as presented both for and against the
bill so that the people of Orleans, ESSEX
and Caledonia counties may know anC
Judge for themselves as to the merits o
the measures.
We may start with fact conceded by
all that there is something radically
wrong either with the present system Of
its administration. Everyone admit,
that taxes are not equitably distributed
at present The most bitter opponent
Of the proposed measures based the
opposition upon the theory that it wa
legislation in favor OF the rich man a
against the poor man, They cited in
stances of poor, Woodworking youni
men in their respective towns who hat
bought farm and run in debt for it ant
had further increased their debt to stocl
that farm. Perhaps the best illustration
of this was made by an apparentl
honest member who cited an instance i
his own town, and by the way, there ar
thousands of just such instances through
out the state. 1t was like this-A youn
man had saved $4,000. He purchased
farm at $4,000, paid in his $4,000 an
gave a mortgage for the balance. H
then purchased stock and tools on credi
to the amount of $500. The tota
amount of his property was $500. TIL
| total amount of his debt was S350(