The commercial. (Union City, Tenn.) 190?-193?, 1921-12-09
Tax Question.

We have an article in the paper
this week frc m the pen Of Attorney
John Rogers, tax attorney for the
city of Knoxville, concerning the
bases of taxation, with request fol
comment on the subject.
l don't hesitate to admit lack OF
knowledge of the subject, but it is
one in which the people everywhere
at all times are interested. 1t is one
which is as much abused as any 9th
er probably.
There is a general belief, however,
that taxation bears more heavily up
on the agricultural classes and the
land owners. Land is visible prop
erty and therefore cannot escape tax
alton. Government bonds are more
or less exempt from taxation. So are
State and municipal bonds. Notes
and personal effects are hidden so as
to escape the burden of taxation. The
owners of real estate, skyscrapers,
ETC., in the cities, use every make
shift to escape taxation. They do
succeed, more or less, in escaping
with either a nominal or a compare
lively small tax liability.
1t seems to be the history of gov
ernments that the older they become
the heavier the burden of taxation
and the more onerous the burden up
on the agricultural class. The New
York Times, stigmatized as "A bale
of hay" and referred to as the ex-
ponent of the capitalistic class, seems
to see political cloud in the farmer
bloc in Congress. 1t seems that the
Western farmers especially are try
ing to get square deal
1t seems that governments, wheth-
er or not they recognize the principle
of private ownership of land, under
take to make the lands produce and
pay the expense of government, and
in the measure that wars and taxes
become burdensome SO the agricul-
tural classes in the same degree be-
come dependent. In some countries
we have the example of poverty and
desolation among the rural classes.
Governments all have the same gen
eral characteristics. They capitalize
promotion at the expense of patriot
ism. They build monuments and
palaces. They lavish money exacted
from the people on political and mil
itary heroes. They very often pro-
tect the political delinquents. AS in
the picture of Henry VIII of England.
on the screen the other night, citi-
zens are practically worms of the
earth. The poor man may produce
the food. He may live close to the
sod and obey the divine command to
multiply and replenish the earth. He
may give his life that the favored
and pampered ones may enjoy its
iuxuries, but his name comes and
goes unknown and unsung.
The older the government usually
the harder the conditions.
We may be told that income taxes
do not fall more heavily upon the
farmer but the experience of the peo-
pie during the reign of high prices
refutes this assertion. The mammoth
revenues collected from big incomes
are passed on to the consumers, and
finally to the farmer because land is |
visible and bears the greater portion |
of the tax.
Tax is a matter to be finally ad- |
justed at the bar of God AS Mr.. |
Rogers says, Jefferson received his
knowledge of tax system from the |
French and from that day to this the
tax question has been one that has
vexed the minds of men. Unquestion-
ably it has always been the source of
trouble among all peoples. In an
cient times men travelled miles on the
backs of donkeys to pay tribute to the
rulers. Six thousand years have
passed and we have not yet learned to
share one another's burdens.
The man who perfects tax sys-
tenn which will produce the desired
results will be bigger than any of
the ancients, the men of the middle
ages or the modern sages.
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