The Topeka state journal., 1909-01-18
TAXING THE BACHELORS.

Signals of distress are belng noWAi
by the bachelors all over the country
and with good reason. There seems
to be something of a concerted move
ment floating over the land TO I'M
pose some sort of an annual tax on
| them for the privilege of basking IN
the environments of the single state
of blessedness. From the efforts that
are being made in various or the
state legislatures it is reasonable to
assume that this proposition OF tax
ing bachelors is not being considered
in spirit of fun but in all earnest
ness.
Wisconsin, which has been in the
1imelight during late years as the
home of much that is new and pro-
gressive in the way of legislation, is
wen to the front, as might be ex-
pected, with a unique plan. A bill has
been introduced in the legislature of
that state which not only provides for
the levying of an annual tax on bach
eIors of thirty years or more but also
provides for the organization of
state bureau which will devote its
energies to finding wives for bachelors
who are sincere in their desires to
avoid the tax. This may be looked
upon as paternal legislation of the
first water. 1t also tinges on legisla-
ton of the freak variety.
A bill has been introduced in the
Iowa legislature Ievying an annual
tax of $25 upon all single men past
the age of thirty and the money to
be derived from it will go to sep
arate county fund to be disbursed to
needy. spinsters and widows. In the
Texas legislature a measure has been
presented fixing tax of SO per an
mum on bachelors twenty-five to thirty
wears old. Bachelors thirty to forty
years old must pay $25 annually and
those from forty to seventy years old
SO a year. All bachelors of seventy
years and over are exempt This is a
thoughtful provision for a man who
reaches the age of seventy without
having been ensnared by woman is
certainly entitled to exemption from
a. tax of this sort. There are some
who will probably think that such
man is entitled to a reward of some
character, possibly a pension. OF
course it wouldn't be doing things the
Texas way if the plan did not have
some drastic features and this bach
elor's tax bill provides that each
eligible bachelor in the state shall pro-
pose to at least one woman each
year. Failure to make affidavit that
he has done this and has been re-
jected. subjects such an unfortunate
bachelor to a double tax.
Over in Missouri a bill taxing |
bachelors $50 each year and creating |
a state matrimonial board of five |
spinsters and five bachelors to en- |
courage matrimony failed of passage |
at the last session of the legislature |
but it Is to be introduced again this
year. Bachelor tax bills have made |
their appearance in Kansas legisla- ,
lures of the past but they have been |
laughed out of existence. In view of /
the general agitation which is being |
given to this subject now in various |
parts of the country, perhaps the
matter will be considered again in
this state more seriously, if it worthy |
of any seriousness at all. Certainly if /
it is the proper thing to tax bachelors,
Kansas should not be backward in
making her single gentlemen help pay
the freight. And at the same time,
what is the matter with taxing the
old spins, also? What's good for the /
gander ought to be fair enough for
the goose.