The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1913-10-18

The General Property Tax.
BY EDGAR sYDENsTRICKER

Inc oeneTai property Tax.
In the movement for tax reform which, with
in the past four years has reached the point
when action by the general assembly seems in
evitabIe, that particular tax about which there
has been the loudest and most persistent outcry
has been the property tax. Whether this singing
out of the property tax has been due more to
the belief that its inequalities of principle and
Of administration has been greater than inequali-
ties in other taxes, whether to the possibility
that Its defects are more easily seen, Is GER
tainly question for careful and calm nv%stiga-
ton. But regardless of the debatableness of
the question, ii is undoubtedly true that the
general property tax is the tax in Vir
ginia which touches the pocketbook of prac-
tically every citizen and certainly the budget
of every householder. to say nothing of business
enterprises and corporations 1t is natural.
therefore, that the demand for some reform of
this tax should be at least the most evident, even
IL there is good reason to doubt the need for
reform of this particular tax instead of the
entire system of taxation
The discussion OF the general property tax
thus leads up closely to the present move
ment for reform that have, in this series Of
brief historical articles purposely postponed it
until the last In the twenty odd articles that
have appeared in The Virginian have
deavored to trace the development of taxation
during the colonial period. and then to show
how each tax has developed during the various
periods of Virginia history State. viz: %
rom 1879 to the constitutional convention OF
S50-'5l; (2) from 1851 to the end OF the
War Between the States; go from the adoption
of the Underwood constitution in the late sixties
to the constitution of 1901, and when necessary
(4) since the present constitution went into eff
feet Considerable emphasis has been laid
the license tax, the corporation tax and the
bank tax being the methods by which the
State and the localities have secured their
revenue from productive business enterprises,
and the income tax has been treated as the only
~ IF taIyt, from tba f1Iiy ial
citizen n portion of his earnings for the purpose
of supporting the government. We may very
naturally pass to discussion of the tax
real and personal property Of individuals.
since the general property tax as il is called,
is the chief indirect method of accomplishing
the same purpose the income tax
1t is Of vital Importance in any tax discussion
legislation to remember that all taxes, eN-
cept upon inheritance and unearned increments,
must come out Of the current revenue of the
Individual, private enterprise, public cor
poration taxed / say must" because If taxes
cannot be paid out Of current income. they
will come out of the property taxed and in the
long run will consume the property itself or
send the property-ow owner into bankruptcy. Even
inheritances and unearned increments are 'in-
come" of the individual to whom they accrue,
but they plainly 'unearned' that In many
States and countries the government 1that-i is.
the publicly feels that it has the right TO larger
share than the ordinary rate Of taxation. The
same principle exists in the liberal income tax
which increases its rate on larger incomes. and
there is difference in this principle from
that which Is the basis Of indirect taxation Of
income through the property
For right or wrons-and Its justice as well
as its economic soundness may well be ques-
toned under at least certain conditons-t Is
evident that the general principle upon which
property has been taxed in Virginia from the
middle Of the eighteenth century until now has
been that all property shall be the measure
of the proportion of revenue that the Individual
or corporate owner pays toward the support
of government This principle governs not only
State, but local taxation. Such taxes as license
inheritance, corporation, poll and income, were
added 10 the main trunk of the system as the
necessities Of obtaining more revenue became
apparent, and when It was discovered in some
instances that property ownership not an
adequate measure of ability to afford revenue.
An account of the development of the general
property tax therefore. is probably the most
important chapter in history of taxation II
Virginia It is intended in a few succeeding ar
ticles to outline: First the State tax on prop
| erty in the light Of such economic conditions
and political tendencies that may seem most
pertinent second to briefly describe the opera
tiop Of the in various periods: and, third,
to point out the effects of the system at
the present time that the occasion of the
recent effort the part of the legislature to
| bring about reforms.
| There is clearly discernble. in reviewing the
history of this tax a central point date,
This the year 1881 when the State consti-
tuition was revised for the second time after the
admission of Virginia into the Union. The
convention. which effected this revision, crystal
| lized the unmistakable tendency toward a uni
versal property tax. This tendency had been
plainly in a process of evolution not only dur
ing the period of Virgnias history State.
but also during a large portion eff her history
as colony. The constitutional convention
enacted as a provision of the organic law the
principle that all property should thereafter be
taxed equally and in proportion to It's value.
The history of the both real and per-
sonal property thus naturally falls into two parts
the development of this principle up to 1851.
and the operation of it after it was put into
full effect.
we will take up first the history Of the taxa
ton of real property from the end of the
colonial period to the constitution of 1901.