New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-10-02
Slap-Stick Finance.

In initiating the personally tax valuation
1000 per cent the junior members OF
the Tax Board have gone back to slap
stick methods Of city finance. This
chalking up on the blackboard Of an I'M
mense personally valuation, nine-tenths
of.which is destined eventually TO escape
the dracnet Of the tax collectors. Is an
old. old farce Il deceives nobody any
longer. not even those who put 1t on with
the hope Of accomplishing a little win
dow dressing" in financial administration
Initiating the personally valuation neces-
sarily lowers the tax rate-at least in APP
pcarance. But if the city spends money
in anticipation Of near-taxes which prove
uncollectible the overestimate becomes
pernicious. since the excess expenditure
has 10 be made good either by piling up
moro debt or levying more real taxes
TIE more experienced members OF the
Tax Board know that the personally tax
cannot be taken very seriously. The law
under which it is levied makes tax evasion
the rule instead Of the exception. 1t is
customary 10 put up a modest bluff IN the
first estimate of taxable personally. Last
year the board started with S59,64Q14O
and then gracefully retreated to S352,O5l'-
755. The latter total was expected TO bring
I'm Sc .622.1G8 in revenue. Up to August
II last only s4I17.3S5 had been collected.
With this result in view land last year
experience conceded with that Of most
preceding years. it was piece Of pure
tbeatricalism 20 start out this fall with
c. frerzied finance valuation Of S3,7OO,OOO'-
600. That portentous total will probably
scale down 10 less than half a billion
when the swearers-of are heard from,
Then the tax collectors will be kept hus-
ting for a year to realize return on oO
per cent Of this amputated remnant.
II is hardly necessary 70 enlarge on the
many causes which have contributed 70
make the direct personally tax an anachro-
nism. To does not fit in with modern eco
nomic conditions. Taxation indirect and
nearer the source is more scientific and
much more productive in the case Of per
sonalty holdings. and the very sweeping
exemptions in the present law show that
the theory Of a direct personally tax has
been pretty nearly abandoned. Corpora
ton income. mortgage registration, inherl-
lance and excise taxes are far better dis
tributed and much more easily collected
Then there is the obvious defect in the
present law that any holder of personally
who thinks he is being overtaxed can
transfer his legal residence to a county
outside the city limits or to another state,
and thus escape the heavy local tax rate
If a tax similar in effect to the old per
sonaltv tax is desired, it could be found
in a habitation impost. That meets the
Old ideas Of a tax on personalty-the eff
fects and Injuries Of the homeland it has
the great advantages Of universally and
simplicity. Nobody can dodge it by
changing his legal but not his actual resi-
dence and it falls fairly on each taxpayer
according to his style Of living.
In Federal and state taxation we are
getting away from taxing theories based
on the economic conditions Of the past.
In local taxation we still cling TO them.
Perhaps it was with the purpose Of dem
onstratng the impracticability Of the per
sonaltv tax that the Tax Board voted this
year to apply it as if it were really an
up-to-date means Of taxation. II so, one
valuable financial lesson may be drawn,
after all, from the l 900 per cent initiation
farce comedy.