Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 52.djvu/531

 On the other hand, let us consider for a moment the converse of this proposition—namely, that titles are property, and, as such, ought not to be exempt from taxation. If this is so, then it would seem to follow that, by making titles, we can make property; and that when a man mortgages his farm for ten thousand dollars, the community have ten thousand dollars' worth of real estate and ten thousand dollars' worth of personal property, where, before the execution of the mortgage, there was only the specified value of the real estate. On the other hand, when the mortgage is paid off, ten thousand dollars' worth of personal property is destroyed, and by a parity of reasoning the State must be to that extent the poorer. A clear comprehension, then, of the facts, that property is embodied labor; that property can alone suffice to pay taxes; that rights, titles, and credits are but the representatives of property; and that, having subjected the property to taxation, there is no sense or equity in again assessing its representative, will at once divest the problem of taxation from many embarrassments which now seem to invest it, greatly simplify it, and go far toward the determination of sound and fixed tax principles.

Important decisions touching the question here under consideration that have recently been rendered by courts of high repute are also here worthy of notice. Thus, in California, the Supreme Court of the State has had before it the vexed question of taxation of mortgages, and the judges have decided, in accordance with justice and common sense, that, as mortgages do not in any way increase the body of wealth in a community, any tax laid upon them is laid upon a fictitious value; is in so far an imposition upon the taxpayer, and, inasmuch as it represents a second tax on real estate already taxed in the hands of the owner, is "double" taxation within the meaning of that term in the Constitution of California and other States.

In 1875 the following case came before the Supreme Court of New York (General Term) under the following circumstances: The administrators of a citizen being taxed by the proper tax authorities of the State for a large amount of personal property, put in a schedule of personal assets consisting mainly of certificates of stock in various railroad and mining companies, with a plea for abatement. The court, after consideration, through Noah Davis, P. J., rendered the following decision: "We are of the opinion also that the commissioners erred in including in their assessment the stocks of corporations created by and under the laws of other States. Such corporations are taxable, and we must presume, in the absence of proof, that taxes in their respective home States are duly assessed and collected upon their capital stock or property. The stocks in