TAXATION, 51 



the valuation to be correct. In this estimate no allowance is 

 made for a temporary shrinkage of values ; and, on the other hand, 

 the under-valuation of property fur purposes of taxation is not 

 taken into account. Were the latter element considered, and 

 were all the forms of " invisible " property which should con- 

 tribute to the public charges brought into the estimate, it would 

 be swelled by more than one hundred millions of dollars. 



Of the average percentage of tax, which has been assumed to be 

 about .025, from ,004 to ,005 are appropriated for State tax, about 

 .001 J for county tax, and the remaining portion, or from .0I8| to 

 .011i|, for town purposes; or, in other words, of an estimated 

 revenue of $0,000,000, about $1,000,000 or $1,200,000 are required 

 for the State, about $360,000 for county purposes,* and not less 

 than $4,440,000 for town and municipal purposes. 



It is not to be expected that these several sums can be mate- 

 rially reduced within the next decade or during the period of 

 cancellation of (what are termed) our war debts. While the rate 

 may gradually diminish in consequence of increasing wealth and 

 prosperity, it may fairly be assumed that the aggregate revenue 

 from taxation will increase with each decade, so numerous and 

 necessary are the objects to which this revenue is devoted. 

 Welcome as are all honest and well-considered efforts at retrench- 

 ment, yet the thoughtful tax-payer would hardly welcome any 

 very large reduction of the aggregate revenue, since he would see 

 involved in it a sacrifice of interests which the people of the State 

 could ill afford. 



This point will be more fully elucidated by transcribing from 

 the report (before referred to) of the New York Commissioners ; 

 "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 demon- 

 strated that there is no one act which can be performed by a 

 community which brings in so large return to the credit of civili- 

 zation and general happiness, as the judicious expenditure for 

 public purposes of a fair percentage of the general wealth raised 

 by an equitable system of taxation. The fruits of such expendi- 

 ture are general education and general health, improved roads, 



* The county estimates transmitted to the House of Representatives by the Secretarj 

 of State for the edsuiog year (187ti) aggregate $383,221, 



