Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1921-03-30

stock, and the amount Of his tax is
equivalent to. about thirty-five pei
cent. of the income he receives in
The shape Of dividends on that stock
That rate is prohibitory. OF course
bank stock is readily located by the
assessors because the banks are re-
quired to return to the assessors the
names of the owners of that stock.
The intangible property that es-
capes taxation is mostly shares or in
terests' in corporations without the
boarders of the State. There Is
however. one agency which has Civ
en- us certain facts from which we
can estimate the amount of intang-
ible property owned by individuals
in this State, and that is an analysis
of the United States income tax re-
turns filed for the year 1918. And
that report shows that during the
year 1913, 25,104 individuals in the
State of Maine filed United States in
come tax returns. The total income
reported was about 1874, 100000 and
the total tax was about $4.0O0,OOO.
OF the income reported dividends on
shares of stock reported as income
amounted to over $14,00O,O00: inter-
est on bonds and other obligations
amounted to nearly $12,OOO,OO0. So
! that from the forms of intangible
property which yielded that income
of dividends and interest. the total
yield of income, about 25,OO0 inhabi-
tants Of the State of Maine showed
an income Of about S25,O00, OO0-that
sum in the way Of income from in
tangible property received by in
divjduals resident in the State OF
Maine. If you assume that these
securities which yielded this income
were paying at the average rate of
six per cent. that income of almost
SOC, OOO, 900, represents an invested
capital of $433. 100000. Intangible
property of the value of $433, 100000.
That was the amount that was
owned by our citizens as estimated
from the United States income tax
returns Possibly those returns do
not represent all the intangible prop
erty within our State, but they repre-
sent a sufficient amount to show us
that over four hundred million dol
lars worth of intangible property
ty or municipal taxes.
During the year 1919, the assessors
in this State located and assessed
and taxed intangible property
amounting to between $24,OOO,OOO
S25, 900. 900, that sum representing
the worth of intangible property
found by the assessors, while the re-
turns showed $433, 100000 worth of
such property owned in the State:
FIVE per cent. of the amount of that
property owned in the State being
found and taxed, and ninety-flve per
cent. going absolutely tax free. That
seems to me like an unjust situation;
somebody is paying too much Of a
tax, and somebody is not paying tax
enough.
have said that the Republican
party in their platform stated that
the income tax was the fairest form
of tax / do not believe l need to
discuss the question of the fairne SIS
of the income tax further than that.
Any hypothetical objections to spe-
cific form of income tax do not now
concern us; what we are concerned
with is whether the Legislature shall
have the right to levy an income tax
and whether the people of the State
of Maine shall have the right to vote
upon that question. No question is
raised now of the distribution of the
proceeds of any tax to the towns and
cities They of course would have tc
be reimbursed for the loss represent
ed by the amount they now collect in
IA.
erty they do reach. but those ques-
tons are not before us. Because sc
much property escapes taxation alto
gether, it necessarily follows that the
burden falls more heavily upon the
property that remains open and Wis
ible and is discovered by the asses
sors. l have told you that five per-
cent. of the intangible property in our
State is taxed and ninety-five pei
cent. is untaXed. That situation Is
comparable to a town containing q
hundred homes. Let us imagine a
town composed of one hundred
houses. Imagine the assessors in
that town. through some reason per-
haps beyond their control, assessing
the taxes in that town on FIVE of these
houses and letting the other ninety
five houses go tax free. That is the
same situation as exists with refer
ence to intangible property at the
present time. The entire tax of thr I
town comes from those five houses
theother nincty five paying no taxes
at all. Now, the property that is Wis
ible to the assessor must pay the bur-
den.
You will find in the report of the
assessors for the year 1919 that live
stock was taxed at a valuation OF
$21,000,0 coo. This is the year, you will
remember, that intangible propert,
was assessed and taxed at a value
of $24,500,000 dollars. And that same
year musical instruments were as
sessed and taxed at the value OF
$4,000 900; furniture was assessed and
taxed at a valuation of over $500,
900. 1t Is on property such as this
that the burden falls. Imagine the
situation that confronts you at this
time. The livestock of the State OF
Maine and the musical instruments
together pay an equal share of tho
burden of State, county and mum
ctpal taxation, as that paid by the IN
tangible property owned by residents
of the State. That situation canrot
longer continue without becoming 1T
enormous hardship on the person who
owns property which is visible to the
assessors. If the escape from taxa
ton was not so wholesale, would
h.