thought that one-third of the personal property of New York city was placed on the assessment-roll. This gentleman said that his acquaintance was limited compared with some other gentlemen, but he believed he knew persons owning as much personal property as that within his limited circle of acquaintances."

In the same debate, another delegate (Mr. Pierrepont, of New York) stated that he could name in the State "thirty men whose aggregate wealth is $450,000,000, whose individual average wealth is $15,000,000;" or over twenty-five millions in excess of the valuation for that year of all the personal property of the entire State.

The following are illustrations to the same effect of a more specific character. In the city of Brooklyn the aggregate valuation of all property for the current year is $201,249,559; but of this, $183,689,579 represent real estate, and only $17,559,980 personal property. And it is to be further noted, that of this seventeen millions valuation of personal property in this great city, $7,956,820 are assessed against corporations, banks, ferries, gas companies, etc., leaving only $9,603,160 against individuals, an amount which probably does not equal the aggregate personal property of two of its citizens.

In the town of Batavia, Genesee county, with a population in 1865 of about 6,000, the valuation of personal property for the years 1869-'70 is reported at $954,995; while the neighbouring city of Rochester, with a population of 62,429, a savings bank deposit alone of over $7,000,000, and with corporation stocks to an aggregate of over $1,300,000, the valuation of personal property for the same year is only $1,501,600, or but little more than half a million in excess of that of the small town of Batavia. And yet the assessors who value and enroll personal property for assessment in the State of New York are required to subscribe to an oath of the same effect as that above quoted in respect to the valuation of real property, viz., that they have enrolled and valued the same at its "full and true value."

Similar illustrations to almost any extent might be given, if any further evidence was necessary to complete the demonstration of the utter inadequacy of the present system, both as respects law and practice, in the State of New York, to provide for the assessment and collection of taxes upon personal property. The commissioners, therefore, will content themselves with making but a single additional reference on this point, viz., to a report transmitted to the Legislature January, 1864, by Theodore C. Peters, at that time one of the State assessors. In this report the following opinion, as the result of much

investigation, is expressed: "Of the taxable property of the State, not one-fifth of the personal property is now reached; while the real estate is assessed upon eleven-twentieths of its value, personal is on less than four-twentieths." A further conclusion arrived at in this report was, "that the value of personal property in the State fully equals that of the real estate," and that the two classes in 1862 had each an approximative aggregate value of $2,169,365,000, or a total of $4,338,731,000.

DISCUSSION OF REMEDIES.

Having thus at some length presented the reasons which seem to require prompt action on the part of the people and authorities of New York, with a view of reconstructing or improving the existing system of valuing and assessing property for the purpose of raising revenue to defray general and local expenditures by means of taxation, we come next to a consideration of the question as to what remedies for existing evils are likely to prove both efficient and expedient.

And, first, it would seem that there could be no essential difference of opinion in regard to the correctness of the proposition, that the object which it is desirable to effect, or the end to be attained to, is equality and certainty in assessment and collection; and, furthermore, that any system which will insure equality in assessment, certainty and economy in collection, and comparative freedom from trouble and annoyance to the taxpayer, will in itself constitute the perfection of taxation. On the other hand, when there is uncertainty and inequality in the methods of assessment and collection, the tax becomes a mere arbitrary exaction, repellent and destructive alike to capital, manufactures, and commerce.

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It is an error, however, to assume that all descriptions of property should be subjected to taxation in order to insure equality and uniformity. On the contrary, all experience has shown-none better than that of the United States-that the more 'concrete" and the less diffused a system of taxation can be made, the better for the people and the better for the State; for, with the exception of direct taxes on income, and upon those articles, like spirits and tobacco, which are consumed solely for personal gratification, taxation distributes itself with a wonderful degree of uniformity. If placed upon land, it will constitute an element of the cost of that which the land produces; if upon manufacturing industry, then of the cost of the products of such industry; upon shipping, of the cost of that which the ship transports; upon capital, of the cost, price, or interest which is paid for the use of such capital;

and if upon buildings, it will be reflected upon the income of the occupier, or upon the cost of the goods, wares, and merchandise stored, exchanged, or produced therein. In short, "to the extent that any individual or class can transfer the onus of a tax to others by including it in the price of his commodities or services, such individual invariably does so."* And so a tax imposed upon an article or service of prime necessity to a community, like land or buildings, for example, becomes, in effect, a tax upon all, without the vexations of infinitesimal application. The oil operators find that one well, intelligently sunk in the right spot, will drain the whole basin better than many, with less expense and with no disturbance to the surrounding country.

But while it is not necessary to tax all descriptions of property in order to insure equality and uniformity, it is indispensable that no system of taxation should be adopted which will not act uniformly and equally upon all property of the same kind, or upon all persons owning the same class of property within the State; inasmuch as if any one man is taxed, and another man exempted, on the same class or description of property, the tax assumes the character of confiscation. In fact, in almost every community it is not so much the extent as it is the inequality that constitutes the burden of taxation, and the commission have been impressed with the circumstance that in conversing with the heaviest tax-payers of the State it has not been so much the amount paid that is complained of, as it is that, while the individual in question claims to pay, his neighbours and associates in some way manage to escape.

In the soundings which have recently been made at great depths in the ocean for telegraphic or other purposes, the sounding-line has not unfrequently brought up from the bottom small chambered cells or other minute animals of exquisite organisation and structure; and the question naturally arises, in what manner can these minute organisms live and flourish under the enormous pressure that in some instances must be exerted, of at least three tons to the square inch? The expla

"Each individual or class in transferring the onus or burden of his taxation to others, does so in the face of a constantly decreasing number of those left to sustain the tax. And this transfer of liability occurs again and again, till, having reached the farthermost, it finds its way back, like the answering ripples of a pond, or the responsive echoes of a valley, to the point whence it starts, but somewhat modified in intensity; every intermediate individual or class having had to suffer, in the increased price of the products or services of those immediately beyond them, a portion of the liability. These ripples and answering ripples of transferred liability, after repeatedly flowing back and forth to one another, at length come to a comparative state of rest; and thus all members of the community become eventually equally burdened."

nation is to be found in the circumstance that the pressure is everywhere equalised, being as much from within outward as from without inward, and thus an equilibrium is maintained under which development goes on, and existence is made possible; and it is in preserving this equilibrium, this equalisation of pressure (says Mr. Lowe, from whose speech as Chancellor of the English Exchequer the above illustration is derived), that the whole secret of taxation consists. All experience shows that a people who are moderately prosperous will bear the heaviest burdens of taxation without complaint when they feel that the distribution is just and equal; but when the distributions are unequal, somebody inevitably is being either plundered or crushed.

And hence is made apparent the gross injustice that has been committed in maintaining by the States of the Union a system of taxing personal property generally, and yet at the same time of exempting from taxation under the overruling authority of the national government the equivalent of full one-fifth of all such property (national securities) under the plea of necessity.

But to remedy the evils inherent in, or growing out of its system of taxation as it exists to-day in New York, and in most of the other States, two courses, and two only, would seem open for adoption. 1st, to attempt to amend and strengthen the present system. 2nd, to construct a new system.

REFORM BY WAY OF AMENDMENT.

Valuation of Real Estate.—And in discussing the nature and scope of the amendments which may seem necessary to perfect the existing system, the subject of real estate or real property naturally comes first in order for consideration.

Here everything, as the term implies, is real, tangible, visible; something which cannot be concealed; something which cannot, 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 harmonise 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 now stands was sufficiently clear and explicit in its declaration and mandate; and if it is not, a very simple enactment is all that is requisite to make it so. Thus the language of the statute is as follows:

"All lands within this State, whether owned by individuals or corporations, shall be liable to taxation. The term 'land,' as

used in this chapter, shall be construed to include the land itself, all buildings, and all other articles erected upon or affixed to the same; all trees and underwood growing thereon, and all mines, minerals, quarries, and fossils in and under the same.”—1 R. S, 387.

"All real estate liable to taxation shall be estimated and assessed by the assessors at its full and true value, as they would appraise the same in payment of a just debt due from a solvent debtor."--1 R. S., as amended, 1851, ch. 176; and, on completion of the assessment-roll, the assessors are severally required to appear before a justice and make and subscribe an oath, to the effect that they have set down all the real estate in the district (town or ward) subject to their jurisdiction, and that they have estimated its value "at the sums which a majority of the assessors have decided to be the full and true value thereof, and at which they would appraise the same in payment of a just debt due from a solvent debtor." "And every assessor who shall wilfully swear false in taking and subscribing said oath, shall be deemed guilty of and liable to the penalties of wilful and corrupt perjury.”—1 R. S., chap. 176, § 8.

The

It is difficult to see how language, other than this, could be made more clear and explicit; and it is accordingly evident that if the law fails in its execution, as it certainly does, the fault is not in the statute, but in its administration. remedy, therefore, must be found in making the administration more effective, or in compelling the assessors to do their duty in accordance with the strict meaning and provisions of the statute. And this, in the opinion of the commissioners, can only be effected by the creation of some central authority, either a single commissioner of taxes, as in Massachusetts, or a board of commissioners, whose tenure of office should be made as permanent and as far removed from partisan influences as possible; and who, clothed with all proper authority, and supported by the law officers of the State, should be required to practically enforce the laws, by providing for revaluations of real property when the same are evidently defective and erroneous; and by prosecuting, to the full extent of the law, all derelictions of duty on the part of the assessors. Such a provision of reform necessarily involves the creation of new officers and some expenditure; but if the proper officer or officers can be found, the State can make no expenditure from which the return would be more prompt, ample, and beneficial. As it now is, the system has no recognised head or central spirit of authority, whose sole province is to secure alike the enforcement of the laws, and to learn, by experience and investigation, bow best to remedy their imperfections.