Show the needs of a change in method of taxation for school purposes there is always more or less interest on the part 0 of people in taxes especially when it comes to 10 paying there is little intelligent interest however when it comes to the problem of corrections of evils that may exist the tendency is to fortify ourselves behind a smoke screen and clamor to the hi hight ht of our voices that all taxes are too high and insinuate even though we may say bay it that all public officials are extravagant and perhaps dishonest it is peculia peculiarly ily interesting to me in this regard that the majority of people pie who are elected to some of ice elee 0 of public trust regardless of what their former pledges may hava been and their convictions ate are when they assume office they behave il a very similar manar to that of their pre it is also interesting that th lt while the general aub llo or rather a few capt captious lous individuals divi duals who would represent thi sentiment of the general public de rall rail their duly elected their yet it those same officials would attempt to give a small fractional part of what the public requests that they would bankrupt the body politic may lay 1 I 1 illustrate the board of education frequently receives enough requests in one meeting from committees representing various barlous interests of the district to spend more noney money regardless gard gand less of merit or policy iliac i could be raised by to the iagal ji th the siim BUM total of money requested fed sied in a op one e such meeting would hays haye exceeded my have been to the effect that thai the elected officials try iry to save and the people to to spend extravagance often lies in the unjust demands of some of the people there has baen much activity on the part of the utah tax payers association during the vast past few months to form organizations pun bulletins and send out news letters to inform the people on tax editions as they exist in this tate state just how this proposes to aid jhb people other than to point out some few extravagant ces or unjust expenditures I 1 am nn abc to say it la Is true that some leaks occur in taxing units aad should be detected and corrected thit that method howver however will not reduce taxes nor burdens budaus on an ability to pay nor mor equalize ahe that the guarantees to all people since our state legislature nil ni l during january and february and the ahe tax problem erectly and indirectly an important sul jeet jact I 1 should like to discuss the pro iii 0 n th thi need of 0 a cnance la in method ot of taxation tor for school in I 1 u POSSE s nu ko principle in the entire field ot of economics Is more generally accepted than the right ot of the state on the plea of self defense to ed acate the child at public expense in a puli Ueal democracy ilem the necessity for an intelligent citizenship Is obvious the success ot of a democrats democrat le lc government depends upon the ho wise use of bf the ballot in order that this intelligence e shall be general en eral rathey rather than abai limited thi state enst provide a system 0 of universal al education to support ha chirp education the state must lay a tax of some kind either on ahe ta or on the property or business of the individual pratt defines taxis as the expenditures tures which the people make for what they buy and use in common the trend of day affairs is to meet pr needs collect ialy rathy rather than individually this is ted in schools roads health etc the arese prese present at trend Is a toward an increasing collective buying which implies higher collective spending ending cp with cons consequent higher taxes in the early tax history the benefit theory was most accepted it implied that a man should pay according to the benefits be received this theory failed orn oil account of the difficulty of principles of measurements ol of the tha benefits derived from collective expenditures it was replaced by tha faculty or ability theory on this sel agman says saya every civilized community professes to tax the andl vidual according to his ability to pay which may in indeed I 1 deed be measured by his property or any other aad ard the conception in this cass wa was that of an individual who was 0 share holder in a large stock company the state here the in was supposed to derive amounts in profits according to his investment the ability to pay day plan pim was in terms of sae sacrifice rather than la in terms of consumption later as aa Sieg maii mail contends that in estimating mans ability to pay one me must not think alone of the imposed upon him in parting with his property or income but we must also ton alier the opportunities which he be tas has enjoyed joyed sn in securing ag the property erty or income this doctrine really gave rise to the income t tax the older idea of sacrifice was individual the newer idea is social the property tax Is almost every evary where the chief means of raising revenues it worked well in the early economic conditions because property was almost thi only expression of tax paying ability corporations po rations were few industrial earnings were small salaries were of little consequence inheritances atoe wa in form ot of real estate and aad personals which seldom included stocks and bonds bond and other intangibles property was taxed because there was little else to tax tar the property tax met fairly well the needs of the day and the demand of the ithe government A mans wealth was largely represented in tangible property it was the most reliable measure of a maws maas ability to pay taxes up to the middle of the century revenues kept pace with the increase in property values and there was no problem in educational after ithe middle ot of the century the industrial changes made big changes la in the tax situation farming communities were supple supplemented with diversified dl versi fied industrial communities the factory system introduced machinery and the mechanical methods methode the corporation and the new forms ot of property known as intag intaj ible were introduced bonds stocks and other securities cams cama to represent a great put of the wealth ox of itne ane country As a result the property tax no longer met the demands ol of modem needs real estate remained but personal property changed becoming less and less tangible As a result much ot of the personal property represented as Inta cible slipped out ot of assessment lists and ad added ded a corresponding burden upon real estate it Is worthy of observing here that the property tax not only sta gradually dually lost its efficiency put but the newer business conditions caused a change la in wealth from property principally teat real estate and livestock to profits or earnings or continued on page four THE NEEDS OF A CHANGE IN METHOD OF TAXATION TOE FOR SCHOOL PURPOSES continued from page P age one incomes two recognized systems of taxation have been employed tor for many years in various countries tho the property tax and the income tax many of the countries of europe lave discontinued the pro property party tax because of the irregularities and I 1 have resorted to the income tax seligman Selig maa says that property tax li is theoretically unjust because property pro pi no longer measures ability to pay the assumption that property is a yard stick always capable of measuring taxable capacity true two farms stores or factories la in close proximity and of equal financial investments may represent vastly different earnton values an ona 3 may make a profit alo th other may constitute a loss yet their owners are supposed to ito pay an equal tax this Is especially true in utah where property pro party is supposed to be taxed at ua its full value As a result vacant city lots and other forms of unproductive real estate often cost the owners several times their worth to hold them another consequence ss is illustrated in the long list of advertised delinquent taxes the unproductive pro property pirty is not paying its way vay and people are letting it go by default for taxes it if a change soon effected it difficult to predict thi future of 0 such counties as aa duchesne where to 60 much irn productive property exists the lies in the tact fact tant in our present tax laws wo we rail to consider the ability to produce we tax the property and not the product this failure to recognize property incomes is also accompanied compa nied by a failure to Te cognize labor incomes today with lucrative professions and opportunities ifor high salaried positions ia labor bor in omes assume an lm importance ortance which did not formerly exist engineers ta lawyers doctors and presidents of large corporations filose incomes vary from to per year year should contribute their share to the public charge otherwise there is ia just grounds for complaint from rom the caught in the ithe property tax the report of the special joint committee on taxation and retrenchment tren trench chiment ment submitted to the new york legislature states that 1 the general property tax has gradually disintegrated until it Is now to the extent of per cen cent of real estate 2 that real estate now carries over 70 per cent ot of the taxes of the local gover mim 3 that the real estate tax is the only elastic source of income 4 As a result the burden on real estate has increased 77 per cent jul in ten years 5 tax rates var vary extensively ten in different sect sections lorts 6 it la Is generally recognized that no I 1 additional bourdens buird ens should tall fall on real estate this report would undoubtedly apply to any state it la is quite evident from this that ithe tax income from xeal real estate has reached its limit with constantly increasing expenditures which will not de minish but will continue to irmease Inci ease because of increased public demands dern ands tor for collective expenditures and aad a dimini tax base real estate states will be obliged to resort to some other means ot of raising revenues it Is especially regrettable in this tate where property is supposed to be assessed at full value and according to ito our recent survey is only assessed from 37 per cent to 70 per cent taxing officials are reducing the assessment contrary to lo law because it provides s a local escape from state taxes salt lake county with the highest assessed value in the state 70 per cent threatens to even up with the remainder ot of the ahe state by reducing its assessed valuation if this tin eat is put into effect the ithe poorer rural is r 1 ly suffer euffer more than they are doing now this tendency of has the effect of g down the ithe valuation of larger property interests in a higher proportion to the small property laprest and may be termed a regressive res ressie tax tas which benelux beneti lii farger pc perty at the expense of dinall property the detects in our lax system offer any evil evidence iunce that the economic resources of our state slate or county are not sufficient to support education I 1 should like this statement kept in mind because our state is rated third in its effort in education and in ability to pay the quIst question lon here is 11 1 Is our pio grana too pretentious tent ious and will our people accept less than they are getting 2 will the economic power of this state if property touched through a more efficient scheme of distribution and equalized taxation stand an I 1 increased creased n burden of taxation we are in tax dile nima we cannot solve it by withholding our judgment I 1 all taxing units in this county can easily justify the use of halt half as much again money as they are getting to care for current needs necessities it if you will and yet the property of the county Is taxed up to its full capacity to pay and perhaps more i to be continued W A PAXTON |