Little Falls herald. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1889-1950, 1912-06-28
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Taxes are q compulsory cont lion
toward the expenses. Of government,
and all citizens are supposed to con-
tribute according to. their several tax,
paying abilities. In like manner. fees.
and fines are compulsory contributions,
not indeed according to tax-paying
abilities, nor from all citizens, but from
all Of certain classes or in certain cir
cumstances. All Of these receipts are
consequently classed as "general rev.
enues, !" and the sum total of general
revenues taken from the people in the
long run measures the true cost of gov.
ernment.
In contrast to general revenues, COM
mercial revenues are received by the
government in return for some special
service. In paying such sums to the
government, the citizen merely pays
for value received, much as he does at
a grocery or dry goods store. It is on
this account that the name "commer.
cial revenues is employed for this
class Of receipts For example, when q
man pays a special assessment for q
ditch, or sewer, or sidewalk, he is help
ing to pay for a public Improvement
which is supposed to increase the SELL
ing value Of his property by at least
the amount Of his assessment. In case
it does this, he gets back, in another
form, all tn at he pays. Only in case he
is assessed more than the benefit to his
property is: he taxed at all, while in
all cases where he is assessed less than
the benefit to his property, he actually
profits by the transaction. It is clear,
therefore, that special assessments,
unless in excess Of benefits to the
property. are not a part Of the cost Of
government. On this account it is es.
sential to separate special assessments
from taxes, special assessment loans
from general loans, and interest pay
able on special assessment loans from
interest on general loans.
The same line Of reasoning applies
even more clearly to publicly operated
service enterprises, such as waterworks,
electric, gas, heating and power plants,
telephones, scales, markets, auditori-
ums, skating rinks, cemeteries, ware
houses, ferries, and other enterprises
which furnish to the public = specific:
commodity or service in return for a
specific price. In all these cases, the
public enterprise is merely q substitute
for some private enterprise which
would otherwise be patropizsd. What
the individual pays Tor it, service is
therefore as little a part Of tho cost
Of geseE1me8t=as as-what~ he would pay
Ito similar. priyats* concerns Such
public enterprises consequently figure
in the cost Of government only in the
event, and to the extent, that they fail
become a charge on the general rev.
enues. For this reason, as in the case of
special assessments, it is essential that
to be self supporting and consequently
the receipts and payments for all
public service enterprises, the debts in
cured on their account, and the pay
ment Of interest. and principal, on such
debts, be kept entirely distinct from all
similar items pertaining to- the mum.
cipality in general. Unless such separa-
tion is rigidly carried through, it is
hopeless to attempt to learn the real
cost Of: government . IT
The next article. in this series will
Econsiqer. certain fundamental distinct
ions between = classes of expenditures
in relation TO- cost sof government. 49,: