The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1911-04-13
FATHER IOWA'S BREECHES.

IA
The Iowa general assembly, in re-
ducing the rates of taxation OF mon
eys and credits, has put new patcf
on Father Iowas breeches; but II
defeating the bill for the payment OF
q commission to revise the the entire
revenue system of the state, 1T has re-
fused to give him new suit OF
clothes. When our tax system was
DEVISED lowa's suit, like that or al
the agricultural states Of the west
was cut out for state where the
main assets were land. livestock and
buildings, all visible and not easily
moved. There were no great cities,
no railways or other statewide cor
porations. AS cities grew, factories
sprang up, banks organized, railroads
and electric lines were built; and the
legislature aimed to reach this prop
erty by putting a patch here and
there on the suit; until now it is too
short in the legs, too short in the
arms, too tight in the waist, and SO
badly patched with lily assorted ma
terials that even the lawyers and
courts do not know certainly which
is patch and which is coat, pants or
vest.
The general assembly has now
added one more patch, a patch on the
pockets this time, and one apparent
ly needed; for out of the holes in the
pockets Father Iowa's money has
been slipping and has been carted off
to states north, south, east and west
of us at terrific rate. What our
T,%l, 1c &c, hrn nd
new suit; in other words, an entire
revision Of the revenue laws of the
state.
The fundamental defect in the
present system is that it levies a
state tax on all kinds Of property; a
small tax, it is true-three and a
half mills, or three and half dollars
on the thousand of assessed value,
or less than a dollar on the thousand
Of real value. TO dodge as much Of
this trifing tax as possible, the coun-
'ty supervisors authorize a low valu-
ton Of property of all kinds. The
. township assessors, taking the hint,
put as low valuation as possible on
the individual property, until for the
year 1910 the average value OF farm
hands of Iowa was between forty-two
and forty-three dollars per acre, and
the assessed value one-fourth of that.
The cities followed the same policy;
aud the railroads contest at every
point any proposition to raise the
assessment on their lines, and point
to the low valuation of farm proper
ty as compared with it's selling value.
The money must be furnished for
governmental purpOses-state, coun-
ty, township, city and school-and
the lower the valuation, the higher
the levy must be. The higher the levy
the greater the temptation to dodge
and hide all sorts of movable prop
erty.
AS the taxes on moneys and cred
It's now run at from 25 per cent to SO
per cent of the income in the way of
interest, the owners send their prop
srty out of the state by investing in
lands outside or in mortgages where
the taxation is low, as in Minnesota,
or none at all, as in some of the far
western states. If they cannot do
that, they move their citizenship to
other states, and accept the low valu
alton ON the real estate at home, on
which they can not help paying taxes.
We have no doubt but that the re-
ducrion of the tax to half cent on
the dollar will check this outflow of
money to other states. 1t will not
stop concealing it at home altogether
for it is about as hard to reform
habitual tax dodger as confirmed
topper. 1t will prevent the formation
of the habit of tax lodging; for he
is a small man indeed who will per-
iure himself for half a cent on the
dollar.
We will never cure the evil until
We provide for state expenses with
out levying a tax on personal prop
erty. The simple and easy way out
is to turn the taxes of all the rail-
roads, telephone and telegraph COM
panies, sleeping cars, express COM
panies, and fast freight lines into the
state treasury. There, with the other
resources collected by the state, such
as fees, the license and inheritance
tax, and by and by an income tax,
will be ample for such purposes. 1t
will then be of interest to every city
and county to tax all property, in
Guiding moneys and credits, at it's
rate of taxation. For the lower the
valuation, the higher must be the
levy. and the greater the temptation
to hide all movable property by send
ing it out of the country, or forget
ting it, or plain lying.
What Father Iowa needs is a new
suit of clothes, and we are sorry that
the general assembly has refused to
appoint the tailors and pay them
good wages. Three competent men
cou4- in the next year re-write wisely
the entire revenue system and pre-
sent it to a special session of the
present general assembly.
=" 1t is folly to appoint any commits
sion to report to future general
assembly. There will be so many
new men from Missouri that by the
time they are shown, the session will
be over.-Wallace's Farmer.
The Iowa" senate has passed the
Wilson bill creating a pension fund
for teachers and a teachers retire.
or,t ND hn