114 The Financial History of Connecticut. 



in 18521 {j- sg^ ^j^g j-^te again at one cent on the dollar. In 1858,^ 

 the rate was raised to one cent and a half. The total amount of 

 state taxes on the towns from April 1, 1846, to March 31, 1861, 

 was $1,088,546. This is an average of seventy-two thousand five 

 hundred sixty-nine dollars per year, an increase of thirty-two thou- 

 sand six hundred fifty-one dollars over the average for the previous 

 period. By comparing the first of these averages with the fifteen- 

 year averages already given for the first ana second periods,^ it 

 will be found that it is twenty-three thousand eight hundred fifty- 

 one dollars higher than the average for the given years of the first 

 period and thirty-four thousand six hundred four dollars more than 

 the average for the same number of years in the second period. 



3. Military Commutation Tax. 

 An additional tax in the nature of a poll tax was levied by an 

 act of the legislature in 1854. This was called the military com- 

 mutation tax and was a tax of fifty cents on all persons from twenty- 

 one to forty-five years of age who were subject to mihtary duty, 

 except those actually serving in the militia. This tax and the 

 state tax were collected by the towns at the same time* The first 

 return from this tax was in 1856. The total amount received by 

 the state up to March 31, 1861, was sixty-eight thousand six hundred 

 twenty-six dollars. If the amount received from this tax be added 

 to that produced by the state tax, the total sum collected by the 

 state from the towns from April 1, 1855, until March 31, 1861, is 

 found to be six hundred four thousand six hundred nine dollars. 

 This is an annual average of one hundred thousand seven hundred 

 sixty-eight dollars and shows a great increase over the amount 

 received from the towns during the previous period. 



4. Tax on Corporations. 

 The assembly did not stop here in its search for additional sources 

 of revenue. The railroads, insurance companies and banking insti- 

 tutions had hitherto escaped all special taxation except the bonuses 

 required of some of the banks. In 1850, under the demands for 

 increased revenue, the assembly began to lay special taxes on cor- 

 porations, which is the distinctive feature of the modern system of 

 state taxation. 



1 Private Acts, 1852, p. 140. 



2 Private Acts, 1858, p. 95. 



3 Cf. p. 67. 



* Public Acts, May 1854, chap. 68, sec. 5, p. 25. 



