Year: 1867

Hsevy Taxasisa for the Current Ysar-Ths
People sf shs state sf New York Pay
s1eOseo0.ooo Taxes.


In the last annual report Of the State Comp
troller the taxes required to be levied for the
current year for State purposes were estimated
at i've and half mills, embracing the
amounts needed for the general fund, schools,
canals and bounty debt These estimates were
based upon and included all the necessary sx-
penditures Tor the year, SO far as they could be
ascertained by the Comptroller; but the reck-
less and prodigate legislation Of the present
session has put all that onicer's calculations TO
fight and he has deemed it his duty, as stated
in our Albany correspondence yesterday, to
call the attention Of the Legislature to the
enormous increase of taxation rendered neces-
sary by the large additional appropriations
they propose to make


The general fund tax for the year was set
down In the Comptroller's budget at one mill
and . quarter. This would raise the sum
Of four hundred and forty thousand dollars for
that particular fund. But the Legislature has
already passed and proposed appropriations to
be paid out of the general fund to the amount
of two million three hundred and 6fty thousand
dollars, thus leaving nearly two million dollars
unprovided for in the Comptroller's estimates,
and necessitating the increase Of the tax to two
and half mills, to avoid . deficiency. Among
the items which add thus largely to the public
burden Is supply bill reaching one million
dollars, special appropriation of thirty thou
sand dollars for extra pay Of clerks, quarter
Of million each for the constitutional conven-
tion and the new Capitol, one hundred and
fifty thousand dollars for the Hudson river
improvement and two hundred thousand for
charity bill


This increase embraces the general fund
alone. There are in addition numerous bills con-
tanning provisions for the levy of special taxes
for specific objects, amounting in the aggregate
to over four mills. Among these are the taxes
for State aid to the Albany and Susquehanna
Railroad, the Whitehall and Plattsburg Rail-
road, the Oneida improvement, the Chenango
Canal. the enlargement of locks on the Erie
and Champlain Canals, the payment of canal
claims and the like. A majority of these mea-
sures are usually carried through the Legis-
lature as jobs and owe their success to the
use of money in the lobby When grouped
together they make frightful aggregate for
the contemplation of the taxpayers of the State


This profigate legislation will increase the
taxation for State purposes for the current year
to over one per cent upon the taxable property,
or more than double the amount levied during
any year of the rebellion, and will "draw
fifteen million dollars from the productive in
terests Of the State" In order that the Legis-
lature may have an opportunity to reflect upon
and reconsider some Of their acts Comptroller
Hillhouse calls their attention to the fact that
the people Of New York will have 10 pay in
1867, in addition to their State tax, thirty-ave
millions for local taxes, and oveg nifty millions
for the taxes imposed by the government Of
the United States, making total sum of ovsr
one hundred million dollars, and be, adds
"whether any community Of less than four
million population can long sustain an annual
burden of over one hundred million dollars
may well be questioned"


1t is fair calculation TO place the taxpayers
Of the State OF one-tenth of the whole popula-
ton. In census Of four millions this would
give taxpaying population of four hundred
thousand. According to the Comptroller,s
statement an averagetxx of over two hundred
and fifty dollars head will have to be paid
by the taxpayers Of New York during the
current year On the entire population the
taxes will average over twenty-five dollars a
head for every man, woman ali child in the
State. This is startling exhibit, and il
is not surprising that it induces the chief
financial officer of the State to raise, warning
voice and exhort the Legislature to pnse in
its career Of recklessness and prohigacy.


The country is in prosperous condition.
with the exception OF the States that are stf.
fering from the devastations Of the war. The
people have plenty Of money, and business of
every kind is steadily advancing. The panic
mongers who have been predicting universal
bankruptcy and ruin are laughed at by all
sensible people. Greeley and other impracti-
cable theorists who are all the time demand
ing return TO specie payments, but who re-
fuse to pay their own debts in coin, are pretty
well exploded. The advertising business, the
true barometer of public prosperity, was never
more active than at the present time. But this
satisfactory condition Of sfairs does not war
rant the Legislature to needlessly and op-
pressively increase the buiden Of taxation, and
we call upon the Committee Of Ways and Means
Of the Assembly to pausein their inconsider-
ate legislation and to reject seriously upon
the facts submitted to hem by the Comp
troller


SPRING and It's Fashions st Home and Abroad.


Our Paris letter, whichwe publish in another