24 The Financial History of Connecticut. 



Laws of Revision of 

 1795 1808 



Each Corn-mill standing on a stream suf- 

 ficient to carry the same through the 

 various seasons of the year and so situ- 

 ated as to be constantly suppUed with 

 custom shall be set in the list annually at 267 150^ 



and others of lesser advantages whether 

 windmills or others at a less sum in pro- 

 portion according to the Hsters' best 

 judgment. 

 Owners of slitting mills, oil mills, saw mills, 

 and all other water works (except iron 

 works) by which profits arise; and all 

 other works and occupations followed or 

 pursued by any persons, by which prof- 

 its arise, and which have not been enumer- 

 ated above (except business in any pub- 

 lic office, husbandry, and common labor 

 for hire) shall be assessed by the best 

 judgment of the hsters according to the 

 principles laid down above.^ 



This is a good illustration of the old method of laying specific 

 taxes upon things which were sometimes roughly classified according 

 to the income they were supposed to yield. Thus meadow lands in 

 Hartford and Middlesex counties, which are in the valley of the 

 Connecticut river, were rated higher than meadow lands situated 

 elsewhere. Different kinds of land were specified, such as plow land, 

 pasture, boggy-meadow land, bush pasture, and unenclosed land 

 with different grades under some of their heads. The same is true 

 with the rating of animals — the older being rated higher as they 

 produced a larger income for the owner. 



The same principle is seen in the method of taxing professions and 

 occupations, a minimum sum being specified, in most cases, at which 

 a person following a given pursuit was to be listed, with a provision 

 that the listers should add to that minimum a sum proportioned, 

 in their opinion, to the income of the individual. In 1804 a maximum 

 sum was also established hmiting somewhat the discretionary powers 

 of the Hsters.^ 



^ "For each run of stones." 



2 Conn. Laws, Revision of 1795, p. 280. 



3 Conn. Laws, Oct. 1804, p. 676, sec. 6—10. 



