Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 51.djvu/792

774 to satisfy any one who can divest himself from the influence of old prejudices of the truth of the following propositions: First, that the assumption that it is necessary to assess everything in order to tax equitably involves an impossibility, and therefore unavoidable inefficiency, injustice, and inequality in administration; second, that, as popularly used in respect to matters pertaining to taxation, the term property is made to apply equally to entities and to symbols or non-entities, which is in itself an absurdity; and, finally, that the outcome of all this is a system which powerfully contributes to arrest and hinder natural development, to corrupt society, and is without a parallel in any country claiming to be civilized. And, in illustration of this latter point, it may be added that, notwithstanding recent discussions and publications, this whole subject is yet so unfamiliar to the people of the United States that probably nine out of ten of its best-informed and collegiate educated citizens, and even members of the bar, take it for granted that the method of assessing and collecting taxes for local and municipal purposes is substantially the same all the world over; and would be greatly surprised to find on investigation that the American system is one of the things that is exclusively American and so little esteemed by the people of other countries as to be for such reasons strictly "non-exportable."

—Attention is first asked to the defects of this system in respect to the taxation of real property. Here everything, as the term implies, is real, tangible, visible; something which can not be concealed; something which can not, under any circumstances, be removed beyond the jurisdiction of the State, except by transfer to the Federal Government; something concerning which the laws and decisions of the courts harmonize rather than conflict. In the valuation of real property, furthermore, it is possible to apply such tests and verifications as will restrict the errors of estimate within comparatively narrow limits. It would also seem as if the law as it exists upon the statute books of most of the States was sufficiently clear and explicit in its declaration and mandate. Thus the language of the statute of the State of New York is as follows:

"All lands within this State, whether owned by individuals or corporations, shall be liable to taxation. The term ‘land’ shall be construed to include the land itself, all buildings, structures, substructures erected upon, under, or above, or affixed to the same; all wharfs and piers; all bridges; all telegraph lines; all surface, underground, or elevated railroads and the iron thereon; all mains, pipes, and tanks laid or placed in, upon, above, or under any public or private street or place; all trees and under-wood growing upon land; and all mines, minerals, quarries, and fossils in and under the same."