THE HABITATION TAX rhe | 
are due to the utter ignorance of the citizens of the local units as to the 
amount of tax which their neighbors pay. Save in the rural districts, 
few taxpayers know what the assessment is of the property adjoining 
their own, and they are much less likely to know the amount of personalty 
assessed to the citizens of theircommunity. Publication of the assessors’ 
rolls in the newspapers would certainly quicken interest in questions of 
taxation, whatever might be the other results.* 
There are two reasons why the habitation tax would not cause much 
friction in its operation. One is the ease with which it might be assessed 
and the accompanying impossibility of deception, and the other is the 
absence of anything in the nature of an inquisition into the affairs of 
the taxpayers. ‘These are advantages of no slight importance. 
In placing a tax on rentals it is only necessary to know the amount 
of the rental, and this is more or less common knowledge in the entire 
neighborhood. If it is not, it is very easy to ascertain. The modifica- 
tions of the tax that have been suggested, as in the case of the change of 
the rate for bachelors and for families with numerous children, are also 
changes that are dependent upon certain well-known or at least easily 
discovered facts. Hence in the assessment of this tax there would be 
scant opportunity for deception or collusion, and no one could find fault 
with the amount levied upon his neighbor. 
One of the very great advantages of this tax is that it does away with 
the necessity of inquiring into the affairs of the taxpayers and securing 
affidavits from them. In America one of the government acts most 
resisted is the investigation of a person’s private affairs. The absence of 
social classes and the teachings of more than a hundred years of democ- 
racy have developed a strong desire in our citizens to keep to themselves 
their own financial standing. Therefore, when the assessor demands 
from the taxpayer an inventory of his wealth, he is frequently met with 
a refusal or is given a statement far from the truth. The feeling that 
each person has the right to resist inquisition even on the part of the 
government is one of the chief reasons for the partial failure of the income 
tax in the older countries of the world and for its much more complete 
t Publication of the assessors’ rolls is now required by law in Nevada, Rhode Island, and those parts 
of Illinois where the country system prevails. It is done locally to some extent in Deleware and New Hamp- 
shire. 
