MUNICIPAL TAXATION — WHY AND HOW. 39 



its functions, and he is supposed to receive his proper and full com- 

 pensation in the protection which the Government affords to his life, 

 liberty and propert}', and in the increase to the value of his posses- 

 sions by the use to which the money contributed is applied. 



Taxation, therefore, must be an incident of sovereignty and co- 

 extensive with that of which it is an incident. 



All subjects over which the sovereign power of the State extends 

 are, in its discretion, legitimate subjects of taxation ; and this may 

 be carried to any extent to which a government ina.y choose to carry 

 it. 



Section twent3'-two of our bill of rights provides that "no tax or 

 duty shall be imposed without the consent of the people, or of their 

 representatives in the Legislature." There seems to be no limit to the 

 power to tax, and the onh' security' against abuse must be found in 

 the responsibilit}' of the Legislature, which imposes the tax to the 

 constituency who are to pay it. 



The judiciary can afford no redress against oppressive taxation so 

 long as the Legislature, in imposing it, shall keep within the limits of 

 legislative authority. The declaration in our bill of rights, section 

 twenty-one, "that private property shall not be taken for public uses 

 without just compensation, nor unless the public exigency requires 

 it," concedes no new right to the State, but only regulates its exer- 

 cise. B3' all the well-settled and acknowledged principles relating to 

 the power of sovereign States, they have the power to tax all per- 

 sons or property within their jurisdiction, except the means or 

 agencies provided, or selected, by the Federal Government as neces- 

 sary to the exercise of its functions. This power may be exercised 

 oppressively upon persons and corporations, but the responsibility 

 of the Legislature is not to the courts, but to the people by whom 

 its members are elected. 



The maxim is familiar with us, as in English law, that "taxation 

 and representation go together," and became established as the result 

 of a long, and at times blood}^ controversy between the representa- 

 tives of the people on one side and the crown on the other. What 

 the maxim really meant was that the local Legislature must make 

 local laws, not that no person could be taxed unless in the body 

 which voted the tax he was represented by some one in whose selec- 

 tion he had a voice. But it never had such a meaning, and never 

 could have without excluding from taxation a very large proportion 

 of all the property in the State. If the privilege of voting for rep- 



