New Britain herald., 1927-02-08
JOHN SMITH, HIS CAR AND HIS TiNES.


 AND HIS TANES.
 II has been figured by the august individuals in charge Of the city purse-strings that the tax-rate this year is 10 run in excess of 9 mills, an increase over that of preceding years. And now for the annual howl from the taxpayers who are to pay in their proportion Of the costs of doing city business here.
 We cannot be sure Of course, pos sbly there has been some vast change in the attitude of the public toward paying it's taxes in the last year so so, possibly the supporters Of the, community till will wcnd their various ways to the collecting headquar- ters and shove their ante under the wire grating with a smile and an expression that the facilities they are buying with this money are well worth the expenditure, Possibly they will-but q darn sight more prob able it is they will not.
 Anticipating they will not the philosopher may easily get his amusement out of contemplating the vagaries of human nature, the aggregation of contrariness that is man. John Smith is an average fellow, we will say-sclecting a pure ly hypothetical individual from the taxpayers collected in New Britain John Smith works in one Of the fac tories here, so perhaps does his son. The combined family income, let us suppose, is fifty dollars q week. John may own q home, he may rent one. which, for taxation purposes is es- sentially the same proposition. If John rents his landlord may boost the monthly assessment on Johns in- come 10 pay the higher taxes" maybe he goes a little further than he should in the raise, but then John can move if he wants to. If John owns his own home he gets the tax bill direct, instead of through the landlord. And John. pronto, goes on the war-path. forgetting everything but the fact that he has 10 spend more money in taxes or in rent be- cause of taxes than he did before. He does not in the least mind telling the whole world, in loud tones, that everything is all wrong and getting worse every minute. That's the way a higher tax rate hits John, who is just like a hundred or a thousand others around town and in every other town.
 Just for tfe fun Of things let us look at John Smiths expenditures for himself. The chances are more than even that he has a tin chariot in the garage or the back yard that he is paying for on the well known plan. Maybe it is more powerful car of a higher price. He has radio that he is paying for. In almost every way he is living far beyond his income. Far be it from us to wish to remove John from the holiday parade down along the shore road in search of pleasure in his car. Far be it from us to wish 10 keep his children from attending the best school possible. Far be it from us to wish to deprive him from good water in sufficient abundance from a tap in his kitchen and bathroom whenever he wants it. Far be it from us to compel him to run his car along streets that are bog holes and pit falls every time he turns out Of his driveway. But John - in spite of the fact that he is willing, nay anxious. to spend all he has on himself - is asking that he suffer all of these things when he is asking that his taxes be kept down. Whether he knows il or not, he is. Taxes maintain the highways. in part. thing which John does not take into account when he is paying them. The money spent thus is giv- ing to John great deal more pleasure out O. his automobile, in making his highways smooth and we imagine good statistician could easily prove that d dollar spent on d street would save dollar or more in damages to the car that passes over if. Possibly. q few months since Mir. smith has been pulling every available wire to get his street fixed" at the city's expense. And the other Mir. Smith, who lives in the other part of town, has been doing the same thing. They have been, or they will be, fixed. Who is going to pay for it? The Smiths, Of course.