The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1932-09-15
TAXES AND POLITICS


great discovery, if we are to Judge
from his recent address opening the
campaign at Bridgeport, Conn. That
discovery discloses the fact that taxes
are too high, especially State and
local taxes. "The taxpayers, particu-
larly the farmer, is blanketed by too
many layers of local taxing author
ities," the Governor is quoted as say
ing.
Then he continued: "My principle,
however, and that of the Democratic
farmer and the small home owner
must be the object of our most care
full solicitude in these times of dis
tress and relief"
The good Governor then goes on to
say that it is because the Republican
Party has failed in its leadership in
overcoming these things which the
Governor has discovered to be wrong,
that the people are going to turn to
Roosevelt and Garner and the other
Democratic leaders in the coming
election.
Governor Roosevelt's statement
that taxes are too high, especially
local taxes, may have been bomb
shell to that Democratic Connecticut
audience, but it will not be any great
surprise to any of the readers of The
Republican. We have been stating
for years that local taxes must come
down, and newspapers and statesmen
everywhere, regardless of party, have
been saying the same thing. But I'M
til recently it has been like the wealth
err, as Mark Twain once said-every-
body talks about it but nobody does
anything. Of late, because of new &C.
onomic conditions, there has been
real effort here and there to reduce
taxes.
Governor Roosevelt does not offer
any new remedies for reducing taxes
probably because there are none, as
he we'll realizes. He does say, how
ever, that these taxes and the bur-
dening of the farmer and the home
owner are the fault of Republican
leadership and for that reason the
people are going to vote for change
this fall.
Well, let's see about that. Local
officials, who spend the local money
and levy the local taxes (where they
are permitted to do so under the ex-
listing laws, as in Maryland), are by
no means generally Republican. They
vary in the different States and COM
munities, with local political condi-
tions. Nowhere in the country are
people suffering from higher taxes
and greater burdens of public debt
than in the South, where Democratic
leaders have been in undisputed con-
troll and possession of the public Of
fees for a half century or more.
And nowhere is there greater shrink
age in the value of municipal, county
and State securities than in the South.
The Northern states, of course, have
their share of these tax burdens, too,
showing that local extravaganza is
not a partisan matter by any means,
but it is evident that if the people are
depending on Democratic leadership
to pull them out of local tax burdens
and extravaganza they are apt to be
disappointed. The record is against
them.
And to go a little nearer home to
the good Governor, it occurs to US
that we have heard quite little COM
plant in past years about the burden
of taxation in New York State, of
which Mr.. Roosevelt has been the
chief executive for the past four
years. And for local extravaganza, if
anybody has it on the Democratic or
ganization in New York City and
New York State in this respect, we
would like to have his number. The
same conditions also exists in Mary
land where we have been under a
Democratic State administration for
a dozen years and no relief in sight
for at least two years.
1t is true that the home owner and
the farmer are burdened by local tax
alton, but the homeowner and the
farmer are in a great measure re-
sponsible for this themselves. They
elect the local officials and demand
improvements and the additional SER
vice which brings on these higher
taxes. Improvement will not be
brought about in change of national
political leadership, but in an aroused
public economy in local affairs.