296 THE QUESTIONS OF THE DAY. 



San Francisco, $56.20 ; total per taxpayer, $107.30. - The 

 amounts paid were $1,520,000, $1,752,250, and $3,599,785 

 respectively. The population of 'the United States is assumed 

 to have been seventy-three milHon, and that of San Francisco, 

 three hundred and twenty thousand. In this case the city 

 absorbs all local taxes. The aggregate of taxation is very 

 serious and tends to increase. 



Taxation is coexistent with civilization, and from time 

 immemorial the devising of a just method of assessing taxes 

 has been tlie most difficult problem of statesmansliip. It has 

 never been solved and probably never will be. It is perfectly 

 safe to say that no entirely just tax was ever yet assessed and 

 collected. It is the most intricate and puzzling of all problems. 

 Even if we assume that whatever is logically just can be 

 })ractically carried out — which is not true — it seems impossible 

 to make any single statement of principle which w^ill be true 

 without modification. It is not even true that men should pay 

 entirely according to their ability, for nearl}' all agree that those 

 who indulge in such articles as spirits, tobacco, opium, and 

 the like should pay in extra taxation for their indulgence, 

 and there are many who believe that those who withhold from 

 others who would use it, land or water which they do not 

 themselves use, should pay extra taxes as a compensation. The 

 principle adopted in all highly-taxed countries is to closely 

 scrutinize every industry, and place upon it whatever burden 

 it can bear without being destroyed, or if not necessary to go 

 to that extreme, whatever it should fairly pay as compared 

 with other industries, its income-producing power being the 

 main factor considered. To the sums obtained in this way are 

 added the proceeds of taxation of unproductive property used 

 for purposes of luxury, and upon commodities whose use it is 

 desired to discourage. In highly-taxed countries it is abso- 

 lutely necessary to pay strict attention to the income-producing 

 power of the different industries, as otherwise there will be 

 taxes which can not be paid. 



There has hitherto not been sufficient pressure of poverty in 

 the United States to compel any adequate study of methods of 

 taxation. While taxes, especially local taxes, have often been 



