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by the circumstance, that the aggregate of local taxation in one of the States of the Union, is at present greater per capita than that of any other civilised community in existence.

COMPARATIVE TAXATION OF NEW YORK AND OTHER STATES.

The following is an approximate exhibit of the extent of local taxation in New York, as compared with that of some other States and municipalities:

New York. Taking the State of New York as a whole, and assuming the population (census of 1870) at 4,364,375, and the aggregate of taxation (Comptroller's Report of 1871) at $50,328,684, the taxation per capita would be $11.55. Deducting alike the population and taxation of the city and county of New York from the population and aggregate taxation of the State, the per capita taxation of the State would be $7.54.

Massachusetts.-Population (census 1870) 1,457,351; aggregate taxation (report Secretary of State 1870), $21,922,569; taxation per capita, $14.35.

Ohio. Population (census 1870), 2,662,214; aggregate taxation, 1869, $22,232,877; taxation per capita, $8.72.

Vermont-Population (census 1870), 330,552; aggregate taxation, 1870 (State, county, and school taxes official, town taxes estimated), $1,750,000; taxation per capita, $5.29.

AGGREGATE TAXATION OF THE UNITED STATES.

The above States of New York, Massachusetts, Ohio, and Vermont are the only ones from which the commissioners have been able to obtain the annual aggregate of taxation. They, however, undoubtedly represent the extremes and the mean of the per capita taxation of the different States, and afford data also for approximately estimating the aggregate annual taxation, national and state, of the whole country.

The revenues of the Federal Government for the fiscal year ending June 30th, 1870 (all of which, with the exception of a few millions, were derived from direct or indirect taxes), were $411,255,477. If we take the per capita rate of local taxation in New York as representing the average rate of all the States, then the aggregate taxation of the whole country for the year 1870 (the population assumed at 39,000,000) would have been $851,705,000. If the per capita rate of Ohio is taken as the average local rate of the States, the aggregate would be $751,335,000; and if of Vermont, $627,535,000.

The aggregate per capita taxation of the whole country, according to these different estimates, would therefore be

$21.83, $19.26 and $16.09 respectively; the last figures representing probably the minimum, and indicating a larger per capita taxation than any modern nation has ever before been subjected to, continuously, in time of peace.

COMPARATIVE TAXATION OF MUNICIPALITIES.

City of New York.-Population (census of 1870), 927,436; aggregate taxation, State, city, and county, 1870, $25,403,859; special taxes for local improvements (estimated) $2,000,000; total aggregate, $27,403,859; rate, 2.27; taxation, per capita, $29.54.*

Brooklyn. Population (census of 1870), 296,300; aggregate taxation 1870, $7,897,538; rate, 3.87; taxation, per capita, $19.02.

Rochester.-Population, 63,424; aggregate taxation, State, county, and city (1869-'70), $752,223; rate, 6.70; taxation for local improvements (estimated), $200,000; total, $952,223; taxation, per capita, State, county, and city, $12.05; state, county, city, and local, $15.25.

Albany.-Population, 69,482; aggregate taxation, $1,397,780.50; rate, 4.57; taxation, per capita, $20.12.

Montreal.-Population, 150,000 (estimated); aggregate city receipts, 1870, $783,644; taxation, per capita, $5.23.

Troy.-Population (census 1870), 46,428; aggregate taxation, State, county, and city, $835,879; rate, 4.30 to 5.24; taxation, per capita, $18.

Boston.-Population (census of 1870), 250,701 ; aggregate of taxation, 1870, $9,050,420; rate, 1.53; taxation, per capita, $36.10.

Philadelphia.-Population (census 1870), 657,179; aggregate taxation (1870-'71), $9,026,753; rate, 1.80, 1.20, 90; taxation, per capita, $13.73.

Cincinnati. Population (census 1870), 218,900; aggregate taxation (1869), $4,199,413; rate, 3.19; taxation, per capita, $19.00.

*In all of the cities of which the statistics of taxation are here given, there are taxes additional to those levied by the State, city, and county, on account of local expenditures; such as the widening of streets, construction of sewers, etc. These taxes are assessed upon the localities which are deemed to have been benefited, and do not appear in its general statements which are accessible to the public and published by the States. In the case of the cities of New York, Rochester, Buffalo, Chicago, Montreal, Boston, and the other cities of Massachusetts, given in the above table, the aggregate of taxes presented is believed to include all assessments; in the case of the other cities, some small addition to the aggregates and per capita's here presented must be allowed for.

Chicago-Population (census 1870), 299,117; aggregate general taxation, $4,139,798; (1870) special, $2,336,993; rate, 1.5; aggregate, $6,476,791; taxation, per capita, $21.65.

Hartford, Conn., 1869.-Taxation (city and town), per capita, approximately, $17.14.

Providence, R. I., 1869.-Taxation, per capita, $17.54.
Springfield, Mass., 1869.-Taxation, per capita, $14.58.
Lowell, Mass., 1869.-Taxation, per capita, $10.58.
Worcester, Mass., 1869.-Taxation, per capita, $10.95.
Lynn, Mass., 1869.-Taxation, per capita, $13.20.
Buffalo, 1870.-Taxation, per capita, $12.33.

Turning to Europe for further illustrations, and selecting the two localities which are believed to afford examples of the maximum of taxation for local purposes, we find the facts in respect to London and Paris to be substantially as follows:

City of London.-The population of the metropolitan district of City of London, according to the census of 1861, was 2,808,944, and the aggregate of local taxation by city authorities, vestries, district boards, and the metropolitan board of works, including also all receipts in respect to the poor (poor rate) were for the fiscal year, 1867, £3,291,678, or $16,458,390; the whole indicating a per capita taxation for local purposes of $5.85. Of this amount £1,753,824, or $8,769,120, were on account of expenditures in respect to the poor; but under this general head of expenditures are included the expenses of jails and houses of correction, of a class of criminal prosecutions, compensation and expense of juries, constables, and other law officers, registrations of births, deaths, and marriages, the support of the criminal insane, expenses of elections, public vaccination, and other like charges. It should also be stated that the national government of Great Britain assumes and defrays a portion of the expenditures incident to the city of London, which, in the United States, are for the most part made a direct charge upon local property exclusively; such, for example, as all expenditures on account of public education, the maintenance of local courts, public buildings, the indigent insane, fire department, etc.; so that really the account of municipal taxation above given affords only an approximate indication of the amount of municipal expenditures. On the other hand, the national government may be supposed to reimburse itself for all municipal expenditures throughout the kingdom by the imposition of the income and stamp taxes, and by various smaller taxes on carriages, servants, etc.

England and Wales.-The local taxation of England and Wales by counties, "unions" and parishes for 1867-68 is

The population of

returned at £16,783,220 ($83,916,100). England and Wales for 1868 having been 21,649,377, the rate per capita is accordingly $3.87. This taxation was assessed upon the rental value of real property, and averaged 28. 10d. in the pound upon the gross estimated rental. The rate, however, varied in different counties from 1s. 6d. to 4s. 6d.

Paris.-The yearly expenditures of the city of Paris previous to the war were reported as at the rate of about $25,000,000 per annum, of which $18,000,000 were raised by what are known as octroi duties, or taxes in the form of a tariff on certain goods, wares, and merchandise entering the city of Paris from other portions of the French territory. The municipal expenditures proper of the city of Paris were, however, so conjoined with those of the imperial government and exchequer, the two being virtually under one and the same direction and authority, that no discrimination can well be made between them. Thus, for example, a part of the annual expenditure of Paris, above referred to, was for interest on the debt created for a virtual rebuilding and reconstruction of the city; an act authorised by the government, and considered in part, at least, as a public enterprise for national as much as for municipal purposes.

It thus appears, from the above statements, that, with the exception possibly of Paris, the United States as a whole, the State of Massachusetts, and the city of Boston, takes precedence over all the governments and communities in the civilised world in respect to the extent and weight of their taxation; and it may be further noted, in respect to Massachusetts and Boston, that, notwithstanding the comparative magnitude of their taxation, the annual aggregate receipts from the same have not been sufficient of late years to prevent an annual increment of both the public and municipal indebtedness. That this view of the comparative taxation of Massachusetts is not altogether new is shown by the fact that, in 1868, the Hon. George Walker, then chairman of the finance committee of the State House of Representatives, called the attention of the Legislature to the circumstance that the amount paid in taxation, national and State, by Massachusetts, for the five years from 1862 to 1867 inclusive, amounted to an estimated aggregate of $153,000,000, or at the rate of about $30,000,000 per annum on a currency valuation in 1865 of $1,010,000,000.*

"Mr. Speaker, Massachusetts is in no condition to make a wasteful expenditure of money. We are now burdened with taxes to a degree which it would be difficult to parallel elsewhere; to a degree which would have bound a poorer people to the earth; to a degree which no people, not even the people of Massachusetts, can permanently endure. I have taken pains to ascertain the taxes paid in the last five years-1862 to 1867 inclusive. They are as follows: Direct taxes by the State, $17,500,000; local taxes at

THE RADICAL EVIL OF TAXATION.

But although taxation is deprivation, or the taking away of a portion of one's wages or income for other than personal purposes, it is not by any means to be argued that taxation, in itself, is necessarily an evil. On the contrary, it can probably be demonstrated that there is no one act which can be performed by a community, which brings in so large return to the credit of civilisation and general happiness, as the judicious expenditure, for public purposes, of a fair per centage of the general wealth raised by an equitable system of taxation. The fruits of such expenditure are general education and general health; improved roads, diminished expenses of transportation, and security for life and property. And it will be found to be a general rule, that no high degree of civilisation can be maintained in a community, and indeed that no highly civilised community can exist, without comparatively large taxation; the converse of this proposition, however, at the same time not being admitted, that the existence of high taxes are necessarily a sign of high civilisation. Thus, for example, observations made during the past summer in the German States which, since 1866, have been forcibly incorporated with Prussia, show that, notwithstanding the former have been subjected to a greatly increased burden of taxation, they have at the same time enjoyed a greater measure of prosperity; the same being mainly due to an improved administration, of which the increased taxation was a necessary incident.

In short, taxation in itself is no more of an evil than any other necessary and desirable form of expenditure; but it is an evil when taxation is rendered excessive through injudicious or wasteful expenditures; or when, by reason of ill adjustment, the levy of the tax is made an occasion for the collection from the people, through the enhancement of profits and prices, of a far greater sum than is requisite to meet the public requireOf these evils the first is especially characteristic, at the present time, of State and municipal taxation; and the

ments.

$1.20 to $100 on $1,000,000,000, $60 000,000; United States in proportion as the population of 1,200,000 bears to 25,000,000, viz., internal revenue, $45,000,000; customs, $30,588,000-total, $153,088,000. Yearly average, $30,617,000. The valuation, according to the United States census of 1860, was 815 millions in gold, and in 1865, by the State census, 1010 millions in currency. Probably there had been no gain of wealth in the interval, as the years were years of war, and the price of gold in 1865 averaged more than 150. Taking the mean of these valuations, the taxes paid fully equalled 33 per cent. And this, sir, was not levied upon productive property alone, but on all the property, productive and unproductive, which stands upon the assessors' books."-Speech of Hon. George Walker, of Massachusetts," in the House of Representatives, on the Hoosac Tunnel, May 28, 1868.

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