Metropolis weekly gazette. (Metropolis, Ill.) 1???-19??, 1916-10-06
ILLINOIS BEHIND
OTHER STATES
Just Systems for Taxation of
lntangIbles Elsewhere Relieve
much Of the Tax Burdens
Now Borne In Illinois.
our CONSTITUTION OHSTRuCTs

Pending Tax Amendment When
Adopted viii Make It Possible to
Put Illinois Abreast Of Other States
In Modern Tax Methods-kiust Have
a Majority Vote.
While Illinois has remained tied
TO an impossible system of taxation,
other states have devised new sys-
TENS especially for deriving revenues
from accumulated wealth, and not
only have other states outstripped
Illinois In improved taxation meth
DDS. but it is also a fact that nowhere
In Europe Is the old-time uniform tax
system attempted to be applied to
taxation OF intangible values.
In New York state the closest at
tention has been given to the revenue
producing and equitable phases OF
taxation:
Since 1880 the policy towards the
taxation of personal property has
been to classify such property and
to impose q special tax upon each
separate class. In 1913. as q result
of the classified system, the proper
tion of tax burden paid by real estate
showed reduction from 81 per cent
to CD per cent. In Illinois the tax
proportion Of real estate is slowly but
surely Increasing. In New York In
the last year-1906-when effort was
made to assess mortgages on the
same basis as real estate-the pres
ent Illinois system-iess than a mil
lion dollars OF revenue was derived
from the tax. At the present time.
under the new system, about four
million dollars are collected.
Classification In Pennsylvania.
The Constitution OF Pennsylvania
provides that "All taxes shall be uni
form. upon the same class of subjects,
within the territorial limits of the
authority levying the tax" This
provision has been in the Pennsyl-
vania constitution since 1874. It Is
much more comprehensive than the
amendment to be voted on In Illinois,
which permits classification only of
personal property. For more than 80
years Pennsylvania has taxed intan-
gible values at the rate of 40 cents
on each 500 OF full value. and about
half of the tax collected is derived
from mortgages. The amount of in
tangible values now assessed In Penn
sylvania is somewhat over a billion
dollars and invariably each year
shows an increase.
Massachusetts, for Modern System.
The state OF Massachusetts Is now
bringing about q more modern taxa
tion system. Minnesota has amended
the state constitution SO as to give
the legislature full power over classi-
fcation and taxation of all kinds of
property. In the year 1911 the legis-
dunn to the people. In 1911 the legis-
iature prescribed a 30-cent tax on
each 800 of intangibles. At that
time the total intangible property
assessment In the state was less than
$4,000, 900. In 1914 the assess
ment had increased to nearly $780,
100000, and the number of persons
assessed was 1000 per cent greater
than under the old system-showing
tina. the tax is now much more evenly
borne. The total tax now. collected
from intangib1es In Minnesota Is
about twice as much as under the old.
Michigan and Rhode Island.
In Michigan, where Governor Pin
gree started the tax reform agitation
about 20 years ago. the Constitution
was amended in 1906 so as to per-
NIT the classification OF all kinds Of