Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1920-12-09

Of public officials thing so rare il
Maine that 1t need not be taken init
consideration-but because our sys'
tenn of selecting officials, either b!
.election or appointment, does not al.
mess men in Office. Partisanship, anG
the effort to maintain party .organi.
cations cost the tax payers a great
deal of money and do not tend t.
business efficiency in public affairs.
In the third place, many do not
think that the present system of as
sessing and collecting taxes is fair OF
equitable. Much property and some
, times the best paying property pays
no tax at ALL. because it cannot be
seen by the assessors. One man
owning visible property valued al
! $4,000 pays a tax of $4,000 year
In rs years he pays in taxes a sum
equal to the whole value Of his prop
! erty, while his neighbor with as
F.. much as he but having his money in
vested where it cannot be seen by
| the assessors, pays nothing. Each
| enjoys the same privileges as citizens.
| One pays $4,000 for the privileges
| and the other gets them free.
Intangible property can sonly be
] reached by special tax or through
| a State income tax. One or the other
should be put in force. / think most
: women would favor an income tax, if
they studied the question and thor
oughly understood it. If large part
of our expenses were paid by income
taxes. families would pay their taxes
/ during the earning years, and wild
ows, children and elderly people who
/ have retired from active work would
not be forced to pay so heavy tax
on their homes or other small PROP
erty on which they depend for their
living. Such a tax could be framed
SO as to exclude small incomes, and
without bearing heavily on larger in
comes. would yield substantial rev.
enue. For example, I should much
prefer that my husband and myself
pay an income tax during his earn
ing years than have such a heavy
property tax, when in later life our
income would be much reduced, or
perhaps / would have no one earning
an income for me.
/ realize that the people have lust
voted against State income tax, but
they should have another chance to
vote on it when it was better under
stood. Very misleading propaganda
was circulated during the last cam
paign. The second thought of the
voters is always the best. Suffrage
was voted down in the State in 1917
by more than two to one--but it car
ried in 1920 by q good majority.
More attention could be given to
carefully valuing porperty which is
held out Of use by it's owners for
speculative purposes: This class of
property because it apparently pro-
duces no income is usually taxed
! lightly. Vacant lots ought to pay
more taxes so that homes would pay
{ less. Walking along the streets of
any city or town in Maine, you will
see desirable house lots paying a very
small tax. But if you endeavor to
! purchase one of those lots for build =
ing purposes you will find 1t valued
! very far in excess of it's assessed
value. The same thing on n much
/ A~' - oNoiS upPiACo " uiluGNSlODeQ
water powers and other property
which properly taxed might be forced
! into use to the great advantage of
the State
The laws enforcing collection of
+ taxes should be made simple and
should be enforced. In a great many
of our cities no tax at all is paid on
certain properties and each year a
pretended sale of real estate for! taxes
is made, which clears the tax collect
or's account, but yields no income to
the city. 1t Is said on good author
! ity that tax sales are practically new
or technically correct. There should
be some way to make them simple
and effective without injury to hon.
est tax payers. An honest and INTEL
hgent revision of our tax laws, an
efficient enforcement of them after
revision and an application Of busi-
ness economy and public spending
would lift big load from many
families in Maine who now are pay
ing more than they can afford for
government and the privileges that
go with it.
Maine is neither as large or as
prosperous as it ought to be and one
reason for that condition is that we
have never taken up the taxation
Question seriously
There is no partisan politics lin
this question. Unfair taxes fall just
as heavily on the men and women of
the majority party as on the men
and women Of the minority party. 1t
is question which all good citizens
should unite in solving and in which
women have at least as deep an in
terest as men. Women who are the
heads of households know how to
economize and no one realizes any
quicker than a woman when she is
| asked to pay more than her share of
a bill
If you who are in authority and
who are responsible for our tax laws,
the administration and the spending
of our public money are going to Sc
riously undertake improving the sit
uation In our State. you will have no
trouble in interesting the women
in the work and in securing their CO.
operation.
Mrs. Pattangalrs remarks were re-
ceived with much enthusiasm. and
! she was given q rising vote of thanks
by the delegates.
Discussion Of Papers
The discussion Of papers. an inter-
| esting feature at all sessions of the
| assessors. then took place and the
speakers answered many questions
pertaining to their subjects.