Gubernatorial Messages 771 



probably never be realized ; but we can approximate 

 it much more closely than at present. The last Leg- 

 islature most wisely appointed a committee to con- 

 sider the feasibility of a thorough and far-reaching 

 change in our tax laws ; and there is good reason to 

 believe that their forthcoming report will present a 

 scheme which will receive the support of substan- 

 tially all classes of taxpayers, and which will be of 

 such a character as to commend itself to the most 

 careful consideration of your body upon broad lines. 

 The law must not only be correct in the abstract ; 

 it must work well in the concrete. Experience 

 shows that certain classes or symbols of property 

 which in theory ought to be taxed can not under 

 the present practice be reached. Some kinds of 

 taxes are so fertile in tempting to perjury and sharp 

 dealing that they amount to taxes on honesty the 

 last quality on which we should impose a needless 

 burden. Moreover, where the conditions and com- 

 plexity of life vary widely as between different com- 

 munities, the desirability and possibility of certain 

 taxes may seem or be so different that it is hard to 

 devise a common system that will work. If possible 

 the State tax should be levied on classes of property, 

 and in a manner which will render it collectible with 

 entire fairness in all sections of the community, as 

 for instance the corporation or collateral inheritance 

 tax is now collected. So far as possible we should 

 divorce the State and municipal taxes, so as to ren- 

 der unnecessary the annual equalization of values 

 between the several counties which has proved so 



