The sun., 1915-10-05

HilA All SdNts llfSNltlli " llit '''bt'
Tan Commission aud chairman Of the
Committee ON Taxation of the recent
Constitutional Convention, condemned
thr present system Of imposing taxes on
personal property yesterday and told the
Joint Legislative committee Of which
Senator Ogden l.. Mills is chairman
thai unless the y, ople do away with IT
t,a, estate values in New York city
viii decline to appoint where'the city will
be unable to meet its obligations.
~. denounced the recent personal
property tax list as a bowling farce.
He jabbed ironically at a municipal ad-
mihistraticu that raises its hands in
Lclror at the prospect Of a direct state
td& and goes calmly on spending money
layishly for "uplift' purposes. He
a,owed his misgivings as TO the honesty
% men and women when 1t comes to n
matter of paying taxes and declared that
with all the huubuD and the large ad-
>aEcc notices 1t would he found In the
end that the widows and orphans and
the small investor who cant afford ex-
u, usivc legal advice would be the only
ores caught in the net now laid for the
I1ssessois OF large fortunes, alleged
and otherwise.
Commissioner SAKE was witness he
fcr' the joint committee, which began
yost' rday series Of hearings through
which IL hopes TO inform itself respect
Ing changes In the present tax laws
urccssaiy to make them fuiill the pur-
pos, Of their existence. which l. t. raise
more and more revenue for the con-
stdutly Increasing expenditures OF the
commonwealth. Those who sat with
senator Mills " sterday We're Senators
i, hu j. Buylan and Archie -. sanders
and Assemblymen ". T.. Macrold. I'd
ward 4. Everett. William ELLEN and
charles u. Dorphur. Assembiyman
Frank Il Thorne Wa, not present
Many Attend Hearing.
Those who attended Tn, hca.iug. and
thtr was a fairly good attendance.
seemed TO await something from the
witness that would bear directly on the
situation in which New York city finds
itself 1t was near the end OF the day
when Commissioner SAKE finally
launched into a recital o; what he
thought of matters in this town Then
ne let drive with the assertion that the
people must smash this system o. per-
Suual property taxation and find some
other way to Increase lis rev nu.s
lie told the committee that j. o., 1ad
tho lemakiug of the taN laws Ne would
destroy the personal property tax as =
par: OF fhe general property taV and
would substitute for it a classified p"~-
soual property tex, Personal property
having been classified ne would tiN IA,
amount OF the tax according To the ma
turc ~ the business and the amount 81,
income which 1t yielded. col, citing it b,
means of license or oCcupatiOnal taxes
or 10y STAMP tax.
ASsemblyman Everett referred agai
and again to the possibility of finding
some way TO make a personal propert ;
tax effective and asked Nj SAKE why II
was that the Legislature had never seen
III 20 adopt meas shres efficient for that
purpose He was Informed thu TIA,
legislators were human hengs and tina
most of them wanted t. I've reelected ans
therefore they hest;atcl 10 pass str.n.
gent measures dealing with the tax si'
uation.
We'll" said the Assemblyman. "we'v.
! got so many more people IN this stat.
/ who have no personal property as com
pared WITH those who have that I beiev,
! II we once bring them 20 understand
| Just what the situation is they Ntl sen,
men to Albany who WIZ pass laws I,
! reach personal property FOR purposes o
taxation.
Commissioner Sane admitted that h.
/ would hesitate about recommending
| any one o: the schemes adopted US
! other States to rcach personal property
| for taxation purposes because OF the pc
| ciIliar situation in New York state.
We have IN this state ne said
New York city. which is the security
marke. for the entire country. Tina
makes - great difference when We az
! considering what 10 do There = -
question that a low rate Of taxation fo
intangible personal property in SOM
states has worked we'll An income ta'
/ has worked well IN Wisconsin. LIceus'
and occupational taxes hay" worked wei
! IN Pennsylvania and some ~ the SuU'h
ern States But | would hesitat" TO sd!
! whether they would work here"
! What remedies would YOU recon
mend9" asked Bronson Winthrop. chic
| counsel for the committee.
Some Remedies PrOpo>cd.
! In the iirs, place ! would destroy n
personal property tax aS "A part OF IN