The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1909-03-25

man-Bacon bill, which practically
/ abolished offsets and placed q strong
commission behind the present tax
laws
If the News would once get both
/ ideas into its mind al the same time
abolishing offsets and low-taXing in
tangibles. it would shortly reach safe
/ and tenable ground One useless
/ without the other each vicious unless
supported by the other.
If the real estate was all put into
The list at nearly or quite its full val
we in every town in the state and the
/ large additions TO personal lists which
| would surely follow determined
movement on the part of the attorney
general to enforce the law, the rate OF
| taxation would be so greatly reduced
even in the first years experiment
that the Herald's young man would
| probably pay less taxes than the fig
ures given above
This, of course, is impracticable be
fore the quadrennial appraisal, and il
is not AT all certain that the tax rate
would be Immediately reduced. Let
us grant that it would and that in
creasing the grand list lowers the tax
rate. automatically. Would the same
thing not happen if lot of miscella-
neous offsets were cut off and the
grand list increased thereby? The
News has argued itself around to a
point wnere the abolition of offsets is
its next logical step. We have hopes.
Again;
The Herald has another imaginary
case in a town where the tax rate is
$3.50 and a man derives his income
from intangible property-notes,
stocks and bonds According TO the
contemporary
He is worth about $4,000 and his
average income from these intangi-
bles is Az per cent, giving him mod
est income of 1880 a year Now the
law steps in and presuming that he
becomes suddenly resolved on flnan-
cial suicide, he reports his property
in full and pays over to the town
$3.50"
This. too, is no imaginary case, but
an actual situation that has come to
the writer's knowledge. 1t Is perhaps
an extreme case and was selected for
/ ildt ltdHbu. ! nt ANpMH AbiiilANAth9
thus wisely:
If the income on the intangible pro
perty is AZ per cent it is not worth
its face value and could not be taxed
on that basis If the property has al
ready paid a small corporation tax the
situation is no worse, to say the least,
than that of mortgaged real estate
which is paying double tax
There of course hundreds OF thous-
ands of first-class bonds, worth par
or Whereabouts, that do not pay over
Az per cent. AS to paying a small
corporation tax, the News must bear
in mind that the corporations pay all
| IN expenses of the state Of Vermont.
They are taxed TO support the state
the same as the Individual is taxed
to support the town, be It much or lit
tie. and this is an absolutely sound
theory. II makes no difference whet-
her the property is taxed in or ont of
the state. for that matter No pro
cess of reasoning can make il right
to tax a railroad on its gross earnings
and then tax It's securities 70 the hol
ders thereof at full local rates.
The next proposition OF the conten-
porary is almost mirthful 1t says
The owner of the ntangibles would
also have another chance 10 save his
income without lying to the tax list.
ers. If the stocks we're really worth
par he could sell them and place the
money in savings banks and net 4 per
cent therefrom
When il gets to place where 1t
would forbid a taxpayer from holding
, certain forms of property the News
Is talking socialism, pure and simple
80 argument can stand for minute
that undertakes to Justify a situation
that would compel any one to invest
his money In any other way than
that which he freely elects And the
present taxation laws seek to do Just
that
The Herald is in-hearty accord with
the following and trusts that it may
presently be carried out;
It occurs to the News that the Inn
partial enforcement Of the present tax
laws could be- carried out without es
pecial hardship, and in doing so the
weak points would be so thoroughly
brought to the attention Of The people
that the next Legislature would be
elected with the purpose OF making
necessary revisions along intelligent
and practical lines
It is always safe 10 enforce the
laws but important to know just
what that enforcement entails Hence
this discussion Rutland Herald.