APPENDIX. 85 



1,182 were rated at over $2,500. I will leave it to the reader to draw 

 his own comparisons. 



The other great source of revenue is the income tax, which produces 

 about fourteen miilions. As far as the city is concerned, incomes up to 

 six hundred marks are free ; from thence to three thousand marks the 

 *'class tax" rises in a progressive scale from nine to seventy-two marks 

 aunually. The State collects an equal tax, but includes the incomes be- 

 low six hundred marks in two classes, which pay respectively three and 

 six marks annually; wliile, therefore, the city gets from this source 

 less than three miilions, the State collects nearly four miilions and a 

 half. Incomes above three thousand marks are taxed 3 per cent by 

 the State and equally by the city. Of such there were in Berlin, last 

 April, 3G,464. These were divided into classes ascending by Steps of 

 six hundred marks to six thousand marks, and by Steps of twelve hun- 

 dred marks, and so on, the largest income assessedlierr Bleichröder's 

 being 2,460,000 marks. 



As with rents, here it is interesting also to observe the distribution 

 of incomes. Under one or the other of these income-taxes are ranged 

 477,611 persons; three-tifths are exempt from the city tax, since they 

 earn less than 600 marks. More than half the remainder have incomes 

 below 3,000 marks. Of the 36,464 who pay income-tax at 3 per cent, 

 one-third (12,291) pay on incomes under 4,200; a secondthird (12,512) 

 rank between 4,200 and 7,200; about two-nintlis (8,095) have incomes 

 between this figure and 14,400; less than a tenth (3,302) have between 

 this sum and 60,000. Above this amount there are but 380 incomes in 

 Berlin; 34 of these are above 300,000 marks, representing that number 

 of miüionaires according to American reckoning. One other tax, the 

 dog-tax, is paid directly by the people. This is rather a license thau 

 a tax, however. It produces about 350,000 marks. 



An active discussion is now in progress on the method of estimating 

 the income to be assessed. The present System is largely a rule of 

 thunib. It seems usual to estimate the income of the middle class at 

 about three times the house-rent, increasing the ratio as the rent rises. 

 This is evidently a tax rather on outgo than on income, and it is gen- 

 erally recognized that most incomes are underestimated. It is now 

 proposed, with every prospect of success, to require each person to 

 make a sworn declaration of his income. This would distribute the 

 burdens more justly, and though maiiy oppose it, it could be enforced 

 if it were undertaken. Foreign residents especially seldom are taxed 

 for a third of their income, often fornot more than half their actual ex- 

 penses. I will give a Single instance. There is now in Berlin a Boston 

 gentleman who had an unfortunate prejudice against lying to thu asses- 

 sors, and paid in his iiative city about three huiidred doUars in tnxos 

 annually. On the identical property he pays here as a permanent res- 



ESSEX INST. BULLETIN, VOL. XXI 6* 



