PRINCIPLES OF TAXATION. n 



two dollars is often imperceptible to the eye of any one but at expert. 

 But how can an assessor have time even to open all these bales, to 

 look at them, much less judge accurately of their value? All the 

 assessors of JSTew York city could not approximately value the stock 

 of one of its great dry-goods merchants without relying upon the 

 word of their clerks. Therefore the stock of merchants and manu- 

 facturers would be assessed upon the valuation given by themselves, 

 as in fact it is now. Thus the assessment of ' visible and tangible 

 property/ in these important cases, is made and must be made in 

 exactly the same manner as the assessment of bonds, notes, and other 

 invisible property, resulting in a double or treble burden upon the 

 simple and truthful as compared with their unscrupulous neighbors." 



And, finally, as regards so much of other " personal property " as 

 is tangible and visible, and clearly within the territorial jurisdiction 

 of the taxing power, such as articles of personal adornment, clothing, 

 furniture, works of art, musical instruments, books, etc., shall we 

 assume that we have here a class of articles on which it is desirable to 

 levy taxes ? Of course, the popular answer will be in the affirmative ; 

 for are not all these objects, it may be asked, the very ones best fitted 

 to sustain taxation? and are they not in great part luxuries rather than 

 necessaries? But how, it may be asked, are you going to tax them? for 

 it is reasonable to suppose that if they are to be taxed, it is to be by 

 a system that works equitably, and not by a system which, by taxing 

 A, and letting B, C, and D escape, brings the law into contempt; 

 and, by making the sense of the commission of a wrong on the part 

 of the State the excuse for the commission of another wrong on the 

 part of the individual, gradually undermines the morality of a com- 

 munity that does not wish to be dishonest. 



An even approximately correct valuation of the above-enumer- 

 ated articles is, however, a matter of great difficulty, and none but 

 an expert can effect it. In very many houses there are many arti- 

 cles, like bedding, carpets, pictures, glass, porcelain, and the like, 

 which exhibit few outward indications of undue value, and yet 

 whose cost was very many times greater than similar articles in 

 ordinary use. In fact, in proportion to the wealth of the taxpayer 

 would be the failure of the most honest assessor to estimate the true 

 value of his property. Some years ago a State tax commission 

 in Illinois, with a view of aiding assessors to discover and rightly 

 assess property of the character under consideration, recommended 

 to the State Legislature the enactment of a statute whereby every 

 woman of " full age and sound mind," either directly or by her 

 representative, should annually return to the assessors a statement 

 of the value of all the jewelry, household furniture, and all other 

 property in her possession; but these recommendations never re- 



