lay taxes that will be fair to everybody is one of the most difficult tasks connected with government and one which each pupil will some day have to face. The fairest taxes are those which help and do not hinder the work life and home life of the nation. Often, however, whether a tax is fair or not cannot be known If people would be content without telephones, electric lights, running water, and bathrooms, as our grandmothers were, taxes would not be so high until it is tried. In 1824 most of the vessels engaged in the rich trade with China discharged their cargoes at the port of Boston, selling their goods at the wharves by auction. The state legislature of that year, in spite of the protest of the merchants of the city, voted a tax of 1 per cent on all auction sales of merchandise. Several years later the tax was repealed, but it was too late-shipowners had taken their cargoes to New York, where there was no tax, and could not be persuaded to make another change. Later a similar tax laid in Pennsylvania drove from Philadelphia the vessels from beyond the Cape of Good Hope which had used this as their port of entry. In 1919 the excess-profits tax levied by Congress taxed many businesses so heavily that they earned no excess profits that could be taxed. It is never the intention of wise legislators to restrain legitimate industry or to cripple the home. They would be penny Trial by jury is one of the means of safeguarding liberty. But such trials are expensive and must be paid for by the people in taxes wise and pound foolish if they destroyed with unwise taxes the very things they were striving to build up with wise laws. To us in America the tax that France has laid for many years on windows and doors seems a "pound foolish" tax, for we believe that a house to be a home must have abundant light and air, and that France has therefore taken from her people more dollars' worth of health and enjoyment than she has received of profit in other ways. 6. Many Tax Experiments have been tried in America. Probably every tax experiment that could be conceived has been tried in some part of the United States. A Virginian who made a trip through the South and Middle West in 1840 said that "in almost every state lotteries have been authorized by law to aid in building colleges and academies, for making roads and bridges." By an act passed by the New York legislature in 1807 "provision was made for the drawing of four successive Lotteries each of $25,000 and from the avails of these the sum of $12,500 was to be paid to the Regents, to be distributed among the Academies, the residue going toward the formation of a Common School Fund." It seems strange that an amusement which is now illegal in every state should once have been the legal means of paying for government. It also seems a little strange that lawbreaking and crime should be the sources of taxation, yet this has always been one source of revenue. For example, a colonial law of 1771 contained the following restrictions: No person in Boston to set up the Business of Baking Bread for Sale, but where the Justices and Select Men shall allow; on Penalty of £40 for every six Month's, half to the Poor and half to the Informer. Today lawbreakers pay fines for such offenses as overspeeding, peddling without a license, making false income-tax returns, or selling underweight. In spite of the heavy fines paid by lawbreakers all this money, and more, goes to pay the expenses of the officials who enforce the laws, so that there must be many other taxes levied, not on destructive acts but on the wholesome activities of the people. 7. Some Taxes not paid by Everyone. At one time many taxes were paid only by those who benefited from the conveniences offered by government. For instance, in New York City in the Dutch days "every seventh house was obliged to hang out a pole with a lantern and lighted candle on the nights when there was no moon. . . . The expense of the lights was divided among the seven householders adjacent to the lantern." There were many years when most roads and bridges had tollgates at which travelers were required to pay a small fee (toll) for the privilege of using the road or bridge. There are still such bridges and roads in certain parts of the United States. Until 1922 there was a toll bridge on the Lincoln Highway where it crosses the Susquehanna between Wrightsville and Columbia in Pennsylvania, but that has now been opened freely to everyone. The idea of the toll charges was that it was a matter of justice to make those who used the roads and bridges pay for them, but the people soon learned that some things benefit all There are two ways of paying for conveniences like roads-the indirect way by taxes and the direct way by toll charges the people whether they use them or not, and that all the people should therefore help pay for them. Roads, sidewalks, bridges, street lights, all are conveniences that benefit everybody. The doctor, the grocer, the mailman, come to us easily because of the roads and bridges, and the man or woman who uses them the least may benefit the most from the use that others make of them. There are still certain taxes levied by government only on those who receive benefit from the conveniences. A fee is charged by the Federal government for the use of the Panama Canal, also by certain states for the use of canals; fees are also charged by some states and cities for the use of docks owned by them. For the most part, however, the custom is to include the cost of all the government services in the general tax levy so that everyone shall pay directly or indirectly for the things that make all the people more prosperous. The one disadvantage in this is that many people do not appreciate what they pay for in this indirect way. Boys would not smash street lights if they had to pay for the smashed glass. Families would not litter roads and ditches with refuse if they had to pay each week for having the roads cleaned. People would be more careful of matches, cigars, and gasoline if they had to pay the fire department for putting out fires. In one state so many fires were found to be due to carelessness or negligence that it was proposed to pass a law requiring families to pay for the services of the fire department in all such cases. No such law has yet been passed, but a remedy is needed for the wasteful use or misuse of public conveniences. The best remedy is knowledge: knowledge of the cost of streets and other helps, of the fact that carelessness takes its tax not only from the man who is careless but from all those who are careful. 8. Licenses and Fees One Form of Taxes. In a recent year the taxes in one state averaged $54.50 for each person. These were levied on land, houses, furniture, incomes, corporations. Much money was also raised by means of licenses and fees. Here are a few of the things for which fees were charged: Gypsies and traders traveling from place to place, dwelling in tents or vehicles Sellers of sewing machines 1 In each and every county in which they do business. ΙΟ 20 IO 25 5 50 ΙΟ 1001 251 |