60 
Urdahl—Historical Survey of Fee Systems. 
posed to carry on a business which before was open to anyone with¬ 
out a license, and it is not imposed to cover cost of regulation 
or other governmental expenses which are of real benefit to the- 
licensee, then the charge is a license tax; and not a fee in the 
true sense of the word. 
E. FEES DISTINGUISHED FROM SPECIAL ASSESSMENTS. 
Fees and special assessments have so many points of similar¬ 
ity that most of the German writers have made assessments a 
subclass under fees. Only one German writer 1 has placed them 
in any distinct category. Both fees and special assessments 
are based on the doctrine of special benefits. In both cases the 
payer receives an equivalent for his payment. Furthermore,, 
both are payments which in no way displace taxes or exempt 
from taxation. The direct tax will be exactly the same,, 
whether an individual pays a heavy special assessment or num¬ 
erous and large fees during the year. Neither fees nor assess¬ 
ments are levied according to the ability of the payers. The 
objective features of the service rather than the subjective 
ability of the payer, must be taken into consideration. 
Due attention must, no doubt, be given in all fee and special 
assessment legislation to the considerations emphasized by Neu¬ 
mann 2 in his article entitled “Taxation according to ability to 
pay, ” namely, the effect of a high or low fee on the demand 
for the service; the relation of demand for the service to the 
supply of the same; the relation of increased demand for a serv¬ 
ice to public health or general welfare; the relation of cost of 
a service to an increasing demand and so on. But none of 
these can be taken as a general guide, by which to regulate the 
amount which should be charged for a public service. None of 
them can hold the same place in fee-legislation that “ ability to 
pay ’’ does in tax-legislation; nor can any characteristic or con¬ 
dition of the payer be made the criterion by which the size of 
fees in general can be fixed. 
1 Neumann; Die Steuer und das offentliche Interesse , pp. 327, 334. 
2 Die Steuer nach der Steuerfdhigkeit. (Jahrbticher fiir national 
Oekonomie, 36, p. 499. 
