The Washington times., 1922-03-24
north DAKOTA
HAS PECULIAR
REC0RD0F j. s.
No Citizen Found There With
Income Above $4,000
Say Experts.
By GEORGE r. HOLMES.
International News Service.

The sovereign State or North
Dakota, birthplace of the Non
Partisan League and the great test
ing pit Tor political experiments
along economic lines, has a unique
distinction among the forty-eight
States of the Union.
1t is the only one Of the forty
eight which in 1918 and 1919, the
last two years for which records
are available. did not have citizen
who paid surtaxes on an income In
excess of $4,000. Nobody in the
State had an income this large,
even with wheat selling at war
time prices. 1t appears that North
Dakota is poulated by real dirt
farmers"
Government economists have been
puzzling their heads over it, but
as yet they have reached no con-
illusions as to the why and where
fore of this state of affairs unless
It be that the State-controlled
banks and the State-controlled ele-
vators and State-controlled other
things have kept down large profits
and enforced a more standardized
distribution all the way round.
Large Incomes Few in West.
Absence of great incomes is con-
spicuous in all Western States
that are devoted almost entirely to
agriculture, as is North Dakota.
but all around in sister States,
where experience with State control
is lacking or not so far advanced,
there have been at least a few tax
able incomes of more than $4,000.
In South Dakota, for instance,
there We're two men who in both
years paid taxes on incomes in
excess of $4,000, In Idaho there
were two in 1918 and three in
1919. Nevada almost equaled the
record of North Dakota, as there
was only one man so caught in
1919 and none at all in 1918. New
Mexico had four in 1918 and only
one in 1919.
1t is in the great manufacturing
and industrial States of the East
that are found the large taxable in
comes.
To what extent this is true is
readily seen by the official fact
that 67.9 of all income surfaces
are paid by persons living east Of
the Allegheny mountains. The
boundless West may be enormous
ly rich in resources, but not in
enormous incomes of the seventy
thousand and above variety.
States of $4,000 Incomes.
Fifteen States in 1919 reported
they had more than one hundred
citizens within their borders who
paid surtaXeS on incomes above
$4,000. They are the richest States
in the Union, from surtaX stand
point. Their rank and the number
of great incomes follow: New York,
3,S13; Pennsylvania, 1872; Mass
achusetts, S95: Illinois, 1884; Ohio,
461; New Jersey, 1876; California, $50;
Michigan, 249; Texas, 221; MARYLAND,
1870; Missouri, 173; Connecticut. 167;
Minnesota, 14G; Rhode Island. 1876;
Louisiana, 1l6. The other States
rank as follows: Indiana, 81; Wis
consin. 50; District of Columbia. "A:
North Carolina, "a; Tennessee. 10:
Oklahoma, 6S; Delaware. 60: Wash
ington, 60: Georgia, SO; Colorado, 81;
Oregon, 4S; West Virginia, 46; Vir-
ginia. "a: Kentucky. 80; Iowa. 80:
Mississippi 35; Kansas, 81; Alabama,
20: Nebraska. %: South Carolina, "a;
Florida, "a: Maine, 90; New Hamp.
shire. y: Vermont. 20; Arkansas,
is; Arizona, 8; Montana. ): Wyom-
ing. ); Idaho, 3; Utah. 3; South
Dakota, .; Nevada, ]; New Mexico, l;
North Dakota, 0.
SurtaN-Paying States.
The "SurtaX center" or the cen
ter of surtax wealth" lin the United
States has been officially established
as almost on the OhiO-Pennsylvania
line, near the corners Of Ashtabula.
Trumbull, Mercer and Crawford
counties. This means that Penn
sylvania and the States east Of the
Pennsylvania line pay as much sur
taxes as the rest Of the United
States.
Other "centers" in the United
States have been established as fol.
lows:
Center of population - Spencer,
Owen county, Ind.
Geographic Center-Smith county,
Kan, near the Nebraska line.
Center of manufacturing industries
NORTHEASTERN Ohio.
Center of live stock, farm products
and forest products-East Central
Missouri.
Center of personal and corporation
Income taxes-Northeast Ohio.