The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-04-20

OF Hesse sf25O,O00. mostly Prussian
realty. All the other sovereign FAM
lilies are worth about s5O.ooo,0 900. count
ing German lands. The richest Of all.
richer even than the Kaiser. is the
Prince of Schaumburg- Lipe. But his
estates are in Austria. and under the
ustro-German agreement they viii
pay no tax. The prince is the only Ger
man sovereign whose main source OF
wealth will not be taxed. The total
wealth of all % sovereigns is s125, 5,oOO.-
00o which gives an average property
of only about s5,75o.000. It is moder-
ate compensation for the work of q
minor German sovereign. who has per-
haps seven flower shows to open in
the course of summer. Frau Bertha
Krupp and Prince Henckel Won Don
nersmarclc could buy up all the %, and
some American milionaires could buy
them up several times over.
With such do1eful poverty it is thought
fair that the sovereigns should not be
too heavily assessed. They are not like
" to be. The sovereigns will naturally
not make out their own statements of
wealth. but will leave them to managers
aud secretaries whom no fear of prose-
eution will deter from stretching a point
in hardup rulers favor. LAS for the
ordinary German" reason the sovereigns.
''he need not talk so much about us
princes unpatriotcaily evading taxation,
for has not orr respected Professor Del
bruecl1 said that in Prussia only a quar-
ter of the rightful property tax Is col
lected, the state being defrauded of the
other three-auarters? What is the differ
ence between paying nothing and paying
a quarter of what is due?'' The SOW
ereigns. however. have another excuse.
This is that a low proportion of their
capital wealth brings them income. Their
palaces, parks. art collections bring in
nothing, and the public, largely enjoys
them. Prince Friedrich Heinrich of Prus-
sia has garden to his Berlin palace
which is worth sS,750,ooo, and as the up
keep costs him money. and he gets no
return. why should it be taxed?
Palaces. parks and collections win
most likely be left free of the tax In
that case only ABOUT Si0,VnoVV OF foyhi
capital will pay. That will give the
treasury at most s75o,0Oo And on the
soverelgns total income Of s1o,ooo.ooo an
income tax of per cent will perhaps
yield the treasury 100000.
rs it worth WHILE" ask the hardup
sovereigns for the sake of these beg
carly sums to rob us of our privilege.
and treat us as If we were ordinary
men," They ask themselves this in de-
cent secrecy. but publicly plume their
royal crests, and thank God that they
have at last a chance to prove their Ger
man patriotism. The probability is that
they will get much credit for public
spirit without bearing heavy sacrifices.
The "non-reeurring contributions which
they will have to pay is certain to be-
come law, but after this is paid they will
again be tax free The imperial income
tax which threatens TO burden them
permanently is not likely to become law.
The average citizen opposes ii. Already
he has to pay state income tax and NUM-
cipal income tax, and now If he has TO
pay a third imperial income tax, he will
feel himself as poor as Kaiser Wilhelm.
the Prince of schaumburg- Lippe and the
Duke of Sake Weimar. 1t is a hardup
generation.
Copyright, 1915, by Curtis Brown