Sources of Revenue. 27 



field. This proviso gave a man an opportunity to make a fair start 

 in his work before taxing him in the hne of that work.^ 



Under the system of assessment already outlined no serious problem 

 of the equitable valuation of property arose. Nearly everything listed 

 was of such a nature that everybody knew what amount of 

 taxable property each of his fellow-townsmen possessed. 

 During this entire period bank stock was the only kind of stock to 

 be listed and this was not put into the list until 1805. Hence evasion 

 by concealment on the part of the owner of property was difficult. 

 In the second place there was little incentive for the town listers 

 to undervalue property in order that the town might escape paying 

 its just portion of the state tax. The list on which the state tax was 

 levied was used also as the basis of distribution to the school societies 

 of the money annually turned over from the state treasury for the 

 support of schools and as a basis for the distribution of the income 

 from the school fund. In some years the dividends received from the 

 latter source alone were greater than the amount paid into the state 

 treasury by the towns, and as these dividends were increased by the 

 sum annually received from the state for schools, making a total rarely 

 much smaller than the state tax paid by the towns, the temptation 

 to minimize the town lists did not arise. Finally, the listers did not 

 have much discretion in regard to the valuation, for in many cases 

 the rate was definitely set and in most of the rest a lower limit and 

 in 1804 2 an upper limit was made within which the listers could 

 exercise their judgment. For these causes injustice arising from 

 unequal valuation of property in various localities in the state did 

 not exist to an appreciable extent. 



A study of the grand lists shows that there was little increase of 

 taxable property during this period. In 1796 the total valuation, 

 with no deduction for abatements, was $5,890,833. The total of the 

 list of 1818, the last one made under this system, was $5,559,784. The 

 highest mark was reached in 1804, when the figures were $6,293,235. 

 The last two totals are the lowest and highest totals for the period. 

 Inasmuch as all changes made during the period were upward, the 

 fact that the valuation of taxable property in 1818 was lower than 

 that of 1796 is the more noticeable. It does not necessarily prove 

 that Connecticut was growing poorer. It probably indicates that 

 as men accumulated wealth they invested it largely in property that 

 was not subject to taxation. 



1 Conn. Laws, Oct. 1804, p. 676, sec. 10. 



2 Conn. Laws, Oct. 1804, p. 676. 



