The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1911-01-24
RADICAL REFORM IN
TAXATION ADVOCATED
Continued from Page one.)
Some Improvement.

CONTINUED from Page one.)
Some Improvement.
fBefore the establishment of county
government the Territory had Difficult
ty in making ends meet because of the
loss of customs duties and certain
special large expenditures. Since then
although county government has EN-,
tailed an increased expenditure of some
hundreds of thousands OF dollars a
year, circumstances have been such,
owing mainly to the prosperity of the
Territory, that surplus has been ac-
cumulated in the territorial treasury;
and yet the method of providing rev
enues for the Territory and the eoun-
ties, respectively, is still on anything
but a satisfactory basis. Each session
of the legislature turns over more
money to the counties, imposes no con.
ditions on what is to be done with it
and asks no questions as to what has
been done with it, until now nearly a
million and half dollars year is
thus turned over for the supervisors
to do as they please with, except as to
a comparatively small part of it.
"The system of elections is such
that members of the legislature natu-
rally look upon themselves to some ex-
tent as advocates of the needs of their
respective counties as against the
needs of the territorial government.
Under the present system, very little
responsibility is placed on the county
covenants or on the voters of the
respective counties in money matters.
"There is simply the great terri
! tnria1 nancy haor and tho nunctia an lie
how much can be drawn out of it for
the counties. The whole system is
loose, illogical, unscientifc and unbusi-
nesslike. This will be so so long as
the territorial and county funds come
from the same sources, so that it is
merely a question of how much each
shall get out of those sources. The
remedy consists largely in SEPARATING
the sources so that the territorial gov
eminent on the one hand and the re-
spective county governments on the
other can each rest on their own foun
dation and be held to accountability
accordingly.
Proposals.
"How should the sources of revenue
be divided7 Naturally the counties
would have the sources or most of
them from which they now collect rev;
enues themselves, as, FOL instance, the
receipts of their local waterwoik5,
fines and costs of magistrates courts,
license fees, and perhaps they sh6dld
also have the liquor license fees The
Territory would have many of the
minor collections which it now males
and enjoys exclusively. The main ques-
tion is, How shall the principal taxes
| be dividedq
"There ought to be little or no diff
Guilty in settling this question; and it
should be settled here, as it is fast
coming to be settled on the mainland,
though to some extent for different
reasons. In general, the counties
should have the property taxes and the
Territory should have The income, in
surance, inheritance and other taxes of
similar character. This division hap
pens to come ont about right, in com
parison with the revenues and needs
of the Territory and the counties, re-
spectively, hitherto as shown by ex-
perience.
"Property is taxed in the location
in when 1t is found and naturally is a
proper subject for local taxation. In
the case of an income tax, the income
may be derived from property in diff
ferent localities, and it is difficult to
draft any law which would salts
faetorily distribute those taxes among
the different counties. They would
naturally be territorial taxes. The
same is true of inheritance taxes and
insurance taxes. There should be an
exception, however, in certain property
taxes. Property which is used in com.
munieation, either of intelligence by
electricity or otherwise or by trans.
portation in vessels between the Islands
or from the Islands to ships at sea, or
between the Islands and the mainland,
should be taxed by the Territory, rs
they are not local matters.
Benefits.
In this way, the Territory on the
one hand and the counties ON the other
would be entirely independent. Each
would get the credit for what Il saves
and the taxes Of each could be FalAsi
or lowered according 10 the needs Of
each without unnecessary and difficult
complications with the other.
This result has been reaehed very
widely now on the mainland, but from
1lHtfFm direction, over there. the
local governments have hitherto col.
leeted the property taxes and paid Z
share over TO the state governments
the reverse of what Is done here. VIII
the result that property Is assessed Al
very different valuations 10 dilfegent
counties. Some counties assess their
property los IN order 10 make other
counties pay more than their share ID
ward the STATE expenses.
This aiaiaaliy Was sought 10 be
! overcome hY haaTda 0f aqaafaallan. bal
these proved utterly iaeHeriiye, aud
numerous commissions hsfe he6H -.
pointed % discover II possible, selae
other method
1.-THE only meihoa ahleh has proved
sHeeiHal q ihal n dividing ihe sources
- gefenne. having WnpfHY iake5 -
/ Nfflt ~ local Hoffinmfnla ana alelaH
q ne stats alAfg lHsfa, aael u h
sans l#H# IHheEl'aHf2 laass iaaas 81
fni'faaat Aua aif9 pAtif alllllV esa
lHAlfR ulHlaB fNaaA ~ Eiala aa8
~ hflagaieH a ~ ~ l6aHiY 4lA
ass HHthHH q sfHHsHH GERS Fa5fHf4