Miscellaneous. 



356 



[October, 1911. 



Yearsley, and it is expected tbat every 

 seat will be taken at 5 p.m. on September 

 19, when Dr. Freer will open the course 

 with a talk on the work of the Bureau of 

 Science, and what it means to the 

 businessmen. The lectures will be 

 illustrated copiously with lantern slides 

 thrown upon the cinematograph screen 

 of the theatre. The following schedule 

 has been arranged : — 



September 19, 1911,— 1. The Bureau of 

 Science, its meaning to the Commercial 

 Public, and its work, by Paul C. Freer, 

 Director of the Bureau. 



October 17, 1911.— 2. The Philippine 

 Alcohol Industries, by A. D. Gibbs, chief 

 of the Division of Organic Chemistry. 



Decern ber 5, 1911.— 3. Sugar production 

 in the Philippine Islands by Waller B. 

 Gonder, Iloilo Sugar Laboratory of the 

 Bureau of Science. 



January 15, 1912.— 4. Road and road 

 materials, by Warren D. Smith, chief of 

 the Division of Mines. 



February 23, 1912.— 5. The salt produc- 

 tion of the Philippines, by Alvin J. Cox, 

 chief of thp Division of General Inorganic 

 and Physical Chemistry. 



March, 1912.-6. Gold Milling and Mills, 

 by Frank T. Eddingfield, Division of 

 Mines. 



April, 1912.— 7. The Coconut Production 

 of the Philippine Islands, by Paul C. 

 Freer, Director of the Bureau. 



May, 1912.-8. Silk Production in the 

 Philippines by Charles S. Banks, Ento- 

 mologist, Bureau of Science. 



June, 1912.— 9. Economic Plants and 

 Plant Diseases, by Elmer D. Merrill, 

 Botanist, Bureau of Science. 



July, 1912.— 10. The Sampling of Mines 

 and Assaying, by Paul H. Fanning, 

 Division ot Mines. 



The lectures begin at 5 p.m. The in- 

 dividual lectures are subject to change. 



REPORT ON THE DANISH SYSTEM 

 OF TAXATION. 



~" By Mr. Vice-Consular Punch. 



(From the Diplomatic and Consular 

 Reports, April, 1907.) 

 A revised system of taxation, embodied 

 in four separate laws, was introduced 

 in Denmark in 1903. These laws are :— 



(1) Law amending and supplementing 

 the existing rules of local taxation and 

 State support to the local bodies. 



(2) Law relating to the commutation 

 to tithes. 



(3) Law relating to the real property 

 tax. 



(4) Law relating to the income and 

 property tax for State purposes. 



The main object of these laws was to 

 relieve the agricultural class of what 

 was thought to be excessive taxation, as 

 compared with taxation borne by other 

 classes of the community. In order to 

 understand the position, a brief account 

 of the taxation prior to 1903 must be 

 given. Mr. MacDonell's report of July 

 11, 1890, and the official statistics relative 

 to the proceeds of the taxes may also 

 be consulted. 



Local Taxation prior to 1908.— The 

 system of local taxation in the rural 

 districts was revised in 1876, and at 

 that time all the different old rates 

 — poor rate, school rate, <fec. — were 

 abolished, or rather amalgamated in one 

 rate, which was levied, partly on income 

 and partly on land. To meet the expen- 

 diture for its own Budget the County 

 Council might levy taxes on land ; but 

 it had also the right to charge the 

 Parish Council with part of the expenses 

 — i.e., it might levy less tax on land 

 and charge more to the parishes, or vice 

 versa. The proportion in which each 

 Council was to obtain its revenue from 

 land and from the parishes was fixed for 

 a period of three years. The tax-payer 

 paid local land tax both to the County 

 anil Parish Councils, but local income 

 tax only to the parish. 



The land tax, both for the parish and 

 the County Council, was based on a valu- 

 ation of the productive power of the 

 ground made during the first forty years 

 of the nineteenth century. It will easily 

 be understood that, being based on this 

 old valuation, the local taxes, which had 

 increased very considerably during the 

 last century became very unequal. At 

 the time of the valuation the tax was 

 fairly just, but in the course of the 

 century the economic condition of the 

 farmers changed very much owing to 

 railways, improvements, &c, so that 

 the tax paid by agriculturists was no 

 longer proportionate to their ability. 

 On the other hand, the number of non- 

 farming inhabitants of country districts 

 increased with the development of 

 modern industries, and this class paid 

 too little tax in proportion to their 

 ability, since they only paid according 

 to the productive power of the small 

 plots of land occupied by residences or 

 shops. 



The local income tax, called the 

 Property and Ability Tax, which was 

 levied in the parishes, was assessed 

 according to " the whole financial 

 position " of the person concerned, and, 

 there being no more definite regulation 

 of assessment than this, different 

 principles were, as a matter of fact, 

 applied ia different parishes. The tax, 



