The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1915-03-19
Friday, March 10, 1915
TAXATION TROUBLES.

alton there during recent years,
says the Baltimore Sun. This
has got to a point that needs i'm
mediate and drastic correction,
according to the Boston Globe,
which says that tax lodging has
increased so much, and the move
ment of rich people away from
the State has become so serious,
that material changes must be
made to protect property own
ers of the State. The Globe
prints the details Of a hypotheti-
cal estate. consisting of SO, 900
worth of real estate in Massa-
chusetts, a $4,000 mortgage on
New York real estate, $40, 900
worth of Pennsylvania Railroad
shares and an equal amount of
New York State bonds, $4,000
worth of bonds of Maine cor
poration whose property is in
Massachusetts,, and $4,000 cash
in bank. 1t shows that the total
income of this estate would be
So, $50, and that in the ordinary
Massachusetts municipality 81, :
200, or more than AZ per cent,
would be required for taxes. In
certain municipalities where the
local rate is high the rates would
amount to 81 per cent. of the in
come.
Of course, no one pays 81 per
cent. of his income for taxes, or
even AZ per cent. Where such
conditions prevail tax lodging is
inevitably resorted to, but the
minimum which must be paid
after all lodging resources have
been exhausted is evidently so
large that the well-to-do people
of Massachusetts are really
frightened. Chas. Francis
Adams made a fiery speech
against existing conditions at a
town meeting in Lincoln the
other night, but according to the
Springfield Republican he failed
to make any constructive criti-
cism. He was content with
protest and did not suggest
remedy.
Of all departments of govern
ment in this country, none, we
believe, has to deal with such
muddled conditions and practices
as do those which handled tax
alton questions. Speaking gene
rally, there is hardly such a thing
as a just tax and a fair tax in
the whole length and breadth of
this land. Some of our taxes ap-
proximate fairness more closely
than others, as, for instance, the
Maryland tax on securities,
which New York proposes to
adopt and which Massachusetts
might look into with advantage.
But in Maryland we have the
absurd situation of property in
Baltimore city assessed at ap-
proximately its full value, while
in many of the counties the as
sessments average less than one
half of the value. And there
are various other inequalities.
About the fairest of all taxes
when carefully collected, is the
income tax, and if the national
Administration can work it's
system out satisfactorily, we may
look forward to an enlargement
of its scope in this country. In
come taxes in the Individual
State were for long time look
ed upon as impossible because of
their failure to work we'll in
those States in which they had
been tried, but in the last three
or four years Wisconsin has
shown that a State income tax
can be collected fairly and with
out any appreciate lodging.
1t is a significant sign of the
times, however, that States like
Wisconsin and Massachusetts,
which are both Representatives
of advanced and presumably
efficient government, have seen
the tax rates go up greatly in the
last few years and much criticism
result therefrOm. In WlScOn-
sin, indeed, the State govern
ment was overthrown on this
issue, and in Massachusetts
something of the same sort seems
not improbable.
The thing to be remembered,
however, in connection with such
state governments is that, while
their taxes are high, their
citizens get a big return for their
tax payments. This is likewise
true of many of the modern Ger
man cities which are considered
twentieth century models. !
There again the taxation is very