OCR Text |
Show I the Matter Hi Utah's Taxes Bhoul Student's Answer (o H Perplexing Question. Bmoot of Suit Luke City 1ms ftrlzc of $100 for tlio best K1 essay on the above sub-commend sub-commend to hlni the fol-Bcr fol-Bcr by Ellsliu Kirk no being WRonsldcratlon. It iiIho makes .ng for every taxpayer: Kf sourco of public rov-HK rov-HK State of Utnli Is the prop-Kvhlch prop-Kvhlch is beyond nil doubt V worst taxes known in tho HBorld. As a principal form H It tins been abandoned In HHcd countries and bus been VB by grent students of II-BBropcrty II-BBropcrty Is defined to ln-Hey, ln-Hey, credits, bonds, stocks ttcrs and things, real, pcr-HHJmlxcd pcr-HHJmlxcd property, capable of norshlp." Tho legislature dc a uniform law for ex-If ex-If tho property in the stato HH In accord with tho spirit HHstltutlou nnd the laws of Hc tax would bo more equal, Is, tho great (inequality Bn 8 per cent to 75 per cent Ho assessed valuation and HBtluatlon, Tho data gained Kolnt shows this statement t firore Itural District. HB Assessed Pet of assessed BM valuation, valuo with real. j $2,160 80 f 1,000 16 2-3 H 1,460 f 1,040 18 f 930 20,- H 130 f 900 33 H 200 22 H GOO 12Vj Hls data wo can get n good Hb gross InequalltlcH In the kent of tho tax nnd between BJ citizens wo And tho bur-V&xntlon bur-V&xntlon distributed without Bst approach to Justice. HBjrc many reasons for tho Lallty In the distribution of 4Wy tax. Each board of local BBjias a strong Inducement to Be the taxable property found BBi district, becauso by such BHhc amount of tho state tax d to the locality will bo BlThc result Is that property never rated at Its full value, assessed valuation may bo BHr 20" per cent of tho truo Blln some sections, and as BB) or 90 per cent in others. Hr this unjust distribution of state board of equalization formed, authorized to correct BBnualltlcs of apportionment. Bj best thcao boards of equal-BBV equal-BBV mcroly proceed to revalue Bjrty of tho state by rough Br causo of tho grosnest In-Bt In-Bt the tax Is Its failure to tonal property. A largo part Batth of a community conalstB Bjnl property, and this large K wealth Is almost wholly exempt from taxation. As the personal per-sonal property of a community Increases, In-creases, tho tox upon It decreases. An Inevitable result of this Is that Btalo taxation falls with unduo weight upon tho- country districts, where there is little Intnnglblo property. Adam Smith says that there would bo a good tax system If there were equity In the syBtcin. certainly; convenience con-venience of tlmo of payment and avoidance of unnecessary cost of collection. col-lection. If this statement bo true l.iun tho property tax should be done away with as tho chief means for tax--atlon In the Btntc, becauso It does not meet tho most essential qualities of a good tax system, certainty nnd equity There have been many ways suggested sug-gested by which the state muy derive rovenuo other than tho property tax, but an yet It hasn't been supplanted by atiy of tho other methods. Somo of tho ways suggested havo been successful suc-cessful In Borne Btatcs, whllo In others they havo not. If wo arc over going to get n better tax system in the state wo must try something now. Washington Wash-ington Bays that tho best way to test tho laws and constitution of a nation Is by experience. We have tested the property lax by experience nnd hnvo found tho great Injustice of It, so why not experiment with something new. The way suggested which seems the niOBt efficient for the stato to secure Its rovenuo Is by tho corporation tax and Inheritance tax, together with tho property tax In tho local districts. Tho Inheritance tax which is already in tho stato provides that persons with nn lnhcrltnnco of $10,000 or more Bhnll pay the Inheritance tax. This tax could bo greatly remedied if the Btato would require that persons having nn Hot Value of Valuaof Totul Assessed BVW. nenl Estate house and Imp. value. Valuation. Pet JKClty $1,000 $5,000 $6,000 $1,230 21 1.000 4,500 - 5,500 1,250 23 1.000 2,250 3,250 920 29 MOO 5,000 6,500 1,750 27 BMrovc City . 800 (inn 7r. Inheritance of $5,000 should pay tho tax. At $10,000 most of the Inheritances Inheri-tances of Utah are exempt from tho tax. Although it might bo posslblo to Increase tho rates of inheritance taxes sufficiently to check "tho growth and transmission of largo fortunes, no such consideration Is involved In tho Imposition of a moderate tnx, which can bo easily defended as a most just method of raising public revenue. Somo legislatures havo from time to tlmo attempted to reach personality by taxing tho corporations In which the 'untaxed funds wero Invested. Tlte resulting corporation taxes worked somo Improvement. They supplemented supplement-ed tho general property tax very effectively. ef-fectively. In tho past ten years some states hnvo been remodelling their tnx system by selecting certain sources sour-ces of rovenuo for tho use of tho stato or central governments only, leaving the general property tax to the minor civil divisions. One general result of this movement has been tho taking over of tho taxation of corporations by tho stutev with corresponding ln-crenso ln-crenso in efficiency of administration. One remedy for tho property tnx In local districts Is the total exemption of Intnnglblo proporty from taxation, upon Uio ground thut It cannot bo taxed with oven tolerable certainty nnd equality. In tho Inst few years real estate nnd personal property through tho corporation nnd Inheritance tnxes havo been taxed with considerable Improvement Im-provement toward certainly and equity. Tho chief difficulty In tho way of bettor metliods Is frequently mcro Inertia. Hut signs of an awakening awak-ening arc ovoi where apparent, nnd n general Improvement no doubt Is near (it hand. |