Evening star., 1923-12-29
REDISTRIBUTION
DECLARED UNFAIR
Exempt Securities and Eva
sion of Personal Property
Assessment Cited.

What effect does 1t have on the
pocketbook of the average man gain
fully employed. when such an In
vestor as the late William Rockefel-
Ter puts away something like 60 per
cent. of his total wealth In federal.
state or local securities so issued as
to make their income entirely out
OF the reach of the tax collector?
says a statement of the National AS
sociation of Real Estate Boards.
What does 1t mean to the man who
has saved to own his home when
the tax rolls of the state of New York
reYeaLthat, on the showing of as
seSsment- returns, New York citizens
in Ms22 had apparently only one-six-
tesnth the proportion of personal
property to total property that citi-
ze1s of New York state had in 1856?
These are some of the questions of
TAX distribution as 1t now exists
brought into focus by study of Of
hcial statistics on taxation and tax
exemption made this week by the
National Association of Real Estate
Boards.
Heavy Tax Increase.
Increase of PIT per cent in the ma
tion's tax total in the past ten years,
steady and general increase in state
and local tax levies, withdrawal be-
yond the reach of taxation of bill
lions of dollars through investment
in tax-eXempt securities; and escape
or intangible personal property from
taxation through the working of
what is termed "the farce that mas
Querades as personal property taxa
ton ale some OF the matters taken
up in the associations analy is.
To begin with. the association points
out, the-tax bill of the United States.
federal, STATE and local. which back
in 1913 was S2,194, ,000, 900, by 1922 had
reached a total of s7.O61. 100000, ao-
cording to the most reliable es-
Inmates, This as an average of $64.63
for every man, woman and child in
the population. and an average of
S170 for-every person over ten years
OF age rgainfulIy employed in the
United States.
Tax Estimated In Work.
On the basis OF the average income
in the United States tax payment
claims a share out of national in
come total representing one days
work in.about every eight for every
person in the country gainfully en-
ployed.
But not less significant than totals
Ia the rate at which taxes have in
creased. .sComparison of the 1922 total
with thE.-f9l3 totai of S2,1S4,0JU. wv
shows an increase in ten years OF
more thFn%217 per cent, or an aver
age incEease or Eli per cent per
year.
1t is "a the state and local levies
that, ne tax curve has shot upward
without exception every year since
lSivi .ne association s study points
out. The increase here over the last
ten-year period, according to the
most accurate available accounts of
revenue collections, is $50 per cent.
The greatest exemption from a just
share OF TAX payment comes in intan-
sible personal property. the associa-
tion investigation discloses. No ac-
curate estmlatss can be made of the
amount OF this property, but the de-
cline in the proportion of revenue
received from personal property in
any state in the Union indicates the
farce that masquerades as personal
property taxation. In the state Of
New York, for example. in 1866 per-
sonal property on the tax rolls
amounted to, 2o.5 per cent of the to-
tai property of the state. In 1921
enough OF the personal property sue
ceeded in eluding the assessor to re-
duce the percentage to f.6.
Hit Tax Exempt Stocks.
Withdrawal of the assets of large
holderS of wealth from reach of tax
alton through the practice on the
part of governmental bodies of is
suing tax-exempt securities Is re-
fected in reports of the bureau of
the internal revenue on income tax
returns, the association holds. In
1916 there were l.742 income returns
made indicating incomes of more
than SoOO,00O, and aggregating in
come taxes of nearly $1,000, 100000.
This number has steadily declined,
with the exception of one year. until
1921, when only 246 returns were re-
ceived, aggregating revenue OF
only Sl53.000,UU0, a decline OF nearly
80 per cent
Corporations received interest from
tax exempt securities of S146,-
100000 in 1918, s119,000,00o in 1918,
and S220,0OO,000 in 1920. At return
or per cent, a very high rate of
capitalization, these receipts from ex-
empt securities represent an invest
ment of s4,400,000,000 beyond the
reach of the tax collector.
The filing of the report on the final
settlement of the estate of William
Rockefeller during the past year
brought out the fact that of the
$67,649,660 which was given as the
net vaiue of the estate $43,533,O55
was in the form of tax-exempt Sc
curitfes. That is to say, about 60
per cent of the income was tax free.
or the total wealth of the nation
In 1922 the most careful estimates
indicate that 1876 per cent was ex-
empt from taxation. OF this 81 per
cent. SIS, 400.O00.000, was exempt real
property, and 1878 per cent, $35,6OO,-
100000, was other exempt property.
or which. large part was outstand-
ing government tax exempt securi-
ties.