774 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



sis to satisfy any one who can divest himself from the influence 

 of old prejudices of the truth of the following propositions : First, 

 that the assumption that it is necessary to assess everything in 

 order to tax equitably involves an impossibility, and therefore 

 unavoidable inefficiency, injustice, and inequality in administra- 

 tion; second, that, as popularly used in respect to matters per- 

 taining to taxation, the term %)roperty is made to apply equally 

 to entities and to symbols or non-entities, which is in itself an 

 absurdity; and, ^?ia/Z?/, that the outcome of all this is a system 

 which powerfully contributes to arrest and hinder natural devel- 

 opment, to corrupt society, and is without a parallel in any coun- 

 try claiming to be civilized. And, in illustration of this latter 

 point, it may be added that, notwithstanding recent discussions 

 and publications, this whole subject is yet so unfamiliar to the 

 people of the United States that probably nine out of ten of its 

 best-informed and collegiate educated citizens, and even members 

 of the bar, take it for granted that the method of assessing and 

 collecting taxes for local and municipal purposes is substantially 

 the same all the world over ; and would be greatly surprised to find 

 on investigation that the American system is one of the things that 

 is exclusively American and so little esteemed by the people of 

 other countries as to be for such reasons strictly " non-exportable." 



Taxation of Real Estate. Attention is first asked to the 

 defects of this system in respect to the taxation of real property. 

 Here everything, as the term implies, is real, tangible, visible; 

 something which can not be concealed ; something which can not, 

 under any circumstances, be removed beyond the jurisdiction of 

 the State, except by transfer to the Federal Government ; some- 

 thing concerning which the laws and decisions of the courts har- 

 monize 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 exists upon the stat- 

 ute books of most of the States was sufficiently clear and explicit 

 in its declaration and mandate. Thus the language of the statute 

 of the State of New York is as follows : 



" All lands within this State, whether owned by individuals 

 or corporations, shall be liable to taxation. The term ' land ' 

 shall be construed to include the land itself, all buildings, struc- 

 tures, substructures erected upon, under, or above, or afiixed to 

 the same ; all wharfs and piers ; all bridges ; all telegraph lines ; 

 all surface, underground, or elevated railroads and the iron there- 

 on ; all mains, pipes, and tanks laid or placed in, upon, above, or 

 under any public or private street or place ; all trees and under- 

 wood growing upon land ; and all mines, minerals, quarries, and 

 fossils in and under the same." 



