The broad ax. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1895-19??, 1916-10-14

The constitution, Article TX, saws
that the general assembly shall pro.
vide such revenue as may be needfuI
by leVy1ng tax, by valuation, such
that every person and corporation shall
pay tax in proportion to the value
Of his, her or its property" The
tax thus provided for by the constitu-
ton was intended to be equal on all
forms OF property. And, the supreme
court had already said that all forms
OF tangible value were taxable prop
erty within the meaning of the con-
stitution. The attempt to tax intan-
gible property uniformly with farm
lands, railroads, skyscrapers and that
sort OF thing, has been a failure, and
the revenue which was presumed to
be derived from intangible value taxes
has not been forthcoming. The deficit
Occasioned by its loss has had to be
made up by increasing the tax on
tangible things. This statement is not
fantastical nor exaggerated. 1t is
estimated that there are from three
TO five billion dollars of intangible val
ues in Illinois which under the SUI
preme court decision should be pay
ing the same rate of taxes as that
levied on farms and other tangible
property.
Billions of Dollars Untaxed.
In Chicago for 1916 there was filed
for record more than a billion dollars
of mortgages dollar of which
is taxable at the full tax rate. In
the state of Illinois, according to
federal government reports, there is
more than three hundred and>f1fty mil
lion dollars Of farm mortgages. Prob
ably the total of all kinds of mort
cages in Illinois which, under the
law, should be paying taxes amounts
to about two billions of dollars. In
addition to-. this there are taxable
creditS-nobody knows how. much.
Bank deposits amount to more than
a billion dollars while stocks and
bonds and stocks of corporations not
organized in Illinois probably exceed
a billion dollars of value. These
figures, to a large extent, are conjec-
ural, because there are no statistics
upon this point.
Assuming that there are from three
to five billions of dollars of intangible
taxable values in Illinois it is worth
while to compare this amount with the
nSureS actually returned to the local
assessors as shown by the report of
the state board of equalization. The
tull-Value figures for the intangible
values taxed for 1915 are:
Moneys other than banker
chiefly cash in hand 800, 6S1, O35
Individual bank deposits
and other credits 900. 124,727, 05S
Bends and stocks ... 31,730,712
Shares of capital stock in
corporations not organ
lied in Illinois .. 4,O94,556
Mortgages Investments
secured by real estate e. 1927 800 !
Annuities and royalties :. 21S,233 |
Total intanEibles assess
I'd Observation-Disclosures. $265, 079, 494 |
From these figures it will be seen |
;hat the provision of the constitution, |
swing that the revenues for public |
"sc shall be derived from a uniform !
~ upon all forms of property, is a |
failur2. Apparently no more than about |
aTr-twentieth of the taxable intangible |
}alucS are returned for taxation. The |
Tax Amendment to be voted on No |
yrmber will make it possible to de-
rive considerable revenue from intan-
.ihlc values that ROW do not contrib
ate to the support Of state and munic-
ipal government service at all.