Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 7.pdf/392

386 considered a receiver of the revenue who was to give an receipt of a prescribed form to each person at the time of his paying his taxes. This receiver was to be given by the collector a transcript of the assessment roll for the county. Orders on solvent merchants were also received for public dues and it sometimes happened that the drawee neglected or refused to pay, causing trouble and delay.

The increasing volume of scrip outstanding and its rapid depreciation toward the end of this period naturally resulted in its being presented more largely for taxes, for which it would be received without discount. But aside from instances where the Government had liabilities to a party outside its jurisdiction the embarrassment this state of things brought about is not much advertised.

The kinds of property selected as subjects of taxation exhibit a conspicuous departure from the benefit theory of taxation. The original property tax in Oregon was thoroughly unique in exempting farms, farm improvements and the products of the fields while subjecting "town lots and improvements" and the live stock of the farm to territorial and county taxes. The statutes did not make farm lands taxable in Oregon until 1854, and even then the practice of taxing farm lands was resisted.

One of the main purposes to be served by the Provisional Government was that of perfecting the titles of land claims—or at least, protecting the occupants in their claims. Surely, the value of farm property was as much enhanced through the protection afforded by this government as the value of any other. It can hardly be said that land escaped the burden of taxation because titles to it before 1846 were in suspense, and after the treaty they were vested in the National Government, for the titles to city lots were under the same hazards and city lots were taxed. There is in the making of city lots and the mercantile business the most