Omaha daily bee., 1917-11-17
Camoufiaee Taxation.

Omaha, Nov. 15.--To the Editor Of
The Bee: Il think friend Arthur has
hit upon a happy phrase to designate
our system of taxation. 1t surely Is
"camouflage taxation" in more ways
even than he shows. 1t keeps people
in ignorance Of its presence until one
of its shells lands in their midst. Then
they wonder what hit them. Some
think the shell came from some "capl-
talist" hidden in ambush; some that
the labor unions fired it and all are
befuddled.
am glad Mr.. Arthur quotes some
figures from the AZ pr's records.
Some years ago I cC attention TO
that same fact. I sn Ted what the
real meaning of our quadrennial as
sessment Of land values was. l quoted
the assessors figures just as Mr.. AT
thur has. When I went to the state
senate in 1914-1915 introduced Dill
doing away with this outrage against
the producers Of this state-both pusi,
ness and laboring men-but the lano
holders were, as usual, ON tnelr JOBS
and the bill got nowhere.
It is not necessary to cumoer tne
reasonable mind with great mass OF
figures. The illustration can be mace
by the quotation Of a single item OF
them, which I take from Mr.. arthur
array. The period from 1908 TO lslz
showed a greater increase IN omana
land values than did the period from
1912 to 1915. I shall take tnose hs-
ures for illustration. They snow AN an
average yearly increase OF S4,Aav,Vvv
in round numbers. Observe carefully
now what that means. 1t shows tnat
in 1aoe that sum Of land values es-
caped txation. In 1910 those figures
were doubled. In 1911 they were
trehled, Add these yearly exemptions
from taxation for the three years our
mo the ouadrennial and you find that
during the period S25,260,0OO OF lano
values in this city escaped taxatloh
for all time.
Nor will it ever be possible for the
citv to recover them, for they were
as plainly exempted from taxation as
If the law had specifically said SO. II
is not like the case with personal prop
erty Sh6uld our assessor discover
that during that period OF time tnere
was a certain sum Of personal prop
ertv not listed for taxation he still can
assess it and the state can collect II.
Now note the rank injustice sucn
a system is to the true builders OIL
this city. I mean the producers OF
its great prosperity and progress-quI
business and laboring thousands. HAD
anv one of our business men lncreaseu
his stock in any sum the assessor nao
nounced upon him, as the present as
SCISSOR recently did, and treated MIN as
a Dublic criminal Whatever increase
of wealth year after year might oe
made by any Of our mercnahls U,
n,anufa acturers or whatever aooeu
Comforts might be made to his nome
bv a laboring man the assessors
eieamine ewes discover it. He is nalea
into the court house and treated IN
the same fashion as If he had been
taken to the police court as a puomc
nuisance. Yet whatever sucn aooi-
tion might be made to the wealth OF
the city it would plainly represent tne
enterprise and industry or such pusi-
ness or laboring man. NOT SO win
the increase in land values. In no
sense are they the result OF the inui-
vidual enterprise of the owner OIL .he
land. They are solely the fruit OF the
enterprise of the entire community
Therefore, we see, our system oi
taxation takes from an entlre commu-
nity the values which the Whole COM
munity makes and gives tnem TO
few who have done no more to earn
them than any other member OF the
community. To make up the deficiency
in public revenue the city puts its fin
gers into the private pockets of enter
prising citizens 1t is just the same
as if a corporation allowed few
favored share holders to vote the earn
ings of the business into their own
pockets, then levied assessment against
the stockholders to pay the running
expenses. Omaha is corporation. We
are all stockholders. Our collective
interests and enterprise produce land