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It has been alleged (and with truth) that simply because Real Estate cannot be hidden, and is therefore easily got at for the purpose of assessment, and that personal property is difficult to be got at, and conse- quently much of it escapes or by possibility may escape assessment, is not a sufficient reason for allowing the whole of personal property to go free and placing the burden on Real Estate alone. 1 propose therefore to show better and more equitable reasons than this. It will no doubt be contended that if one man has put $10,000 into Real Estate (I use these words in preference to ■•land," as I include in the words "Real Estate" the land and everything on the land which forms part of the freehold), and another man has put the same amount into personal pioperty, there is no reason or equity in making the first man pay the whole burden of taxation. A very strong feeling prevails in this direction amongst those whose principal investments are in Real Estate. It exists with equal strength amongst the holders of what may be called tangible personal property, viz : that which can be seen and got at, (such as merchants and manufacturers storks) in regard to those who hold intangible personal property, viz ; that which cannot be seen and got at, (such as money, mort- gages, stocks, debentures, &c.,) and a great deal of which is believed [and doubtless with some tiutli) to escape altogether. I have no doubt a good deal does escape, and this is unavoidable under the present system of assess- ment. The point is, shall we seek to amend the assessment law so as to allow no escape of personalty, and should we succeed in this, would it after all be just. It is quite clear that Real Estate being local and immoveable must form the principal security to the creditors of the City. If it should happen that every dollar's worth of personal property was removed from the City, the land and the houses and warehouses (empty as most of them would be) would remain to meet our liabilities. Now, upon this view of the matter, what shall we say ? Does the Real Estate benefit the personal property or does the personal property benefit the Real Estate ? It appears to me self- evident that the personalty confers all the benefit. Real Estate owners cannot take their Real Estate to the personalty, but they can and do attract personalty to their Real Estate. What use is their Real Estate if it remains empty and unprofitable? What then do sensible people do? They will argue in this way : — We want to make this place attractive. How can we do it ? Well, in the first place, we will encourage railroads to run in here to make it a commercial centre. We will then have an efficient water supply. We mupf also provide proper sewerage, good streets properly lighted, and a good police force. We must also provide good schools and a hospital, and an efficient fire brigade. All this time I am supposing personal property like a coy maiden keeping aloof until being wooed by real estate he consents to cast hei lot in with his. Now, mark the effect. Merchants ..aracted by the place, and believing that a good trade can be done, come into it. They require business premises, and they require dwellings, and they give employ- ment to people who also require dwellings. Manufacturers in like manner only to greater extent do the same. The gentleman of independent means requires a good residence, and helps to support the City. Can it now be argued that the Real Estate has conferred any favor or benefit upon personalty ? Is it not entirely the other way ? Does not personalty confer a benefit on Real Estate ? True, Real Estate has made the City a suitable place for merchiints and manufacturers to prosecute their business in, and has made it an attractive place for the residence of people of weal'h ; but in whose interest was this done? Was it done by Real Estate owners in a spirit of pure philanthropy for the benefit of holders of personal property ? Was it not r&ther done by Real Estate owners because they knew that their property \ H V fcally valuelws withoutthe coyjperation ersonaI property ? p — », me the Financial Statement of the City for the year ending 3l»t ■ _ ^.•■' '***3» and I will analyze this so that v/e may see the nature ofthe il i^i" "^'"' °' expenditure and what benefit personal property, derives from the different items of the expenditure, and in this way we shall better under- stand whether personal property is so benefitted as to be equitably liable to assessment. The items are as follows, and for convenience of reference I have numbered them from i to 34 : — ABSTRACT OF EXPENDIDTURES. far tht ytar tnded 31st Dutmbtr, 1883. Administration of Criminal Justice S i< sSt 8c Board of Works ,!'S^ !5 Board oi Health ""^ ! ""i:: i :::: •;::•• ^ I! ^ "??! J2 I. 3, 3. 4- S- 6. ?■ «. 9- 10. II. I a. >3- 14 «S. 16. '?• 18. 19. 20. 33. aa. a4. »S- 26. 27- 38. 29. 30. 31- 32. 33- 34. Board of Education, 3,137 66 Doaru 01 caucation fioono no Burlington Beach ..:...."....:::.::;:::; ..: \5,t^ Cemetery Expenses "■ . .at Hi Charitable Expenses .' w,, « City Hall Expenses \\\ .. .•.;:; 63 « Crystal Palace Expenses i.; .•.•;;•.•. .::;.• gj, jl Lciirt House Constructions 100000 Uebentur.s Redeemed ■......• •..;;;.■ ^^f^ f,. Dog Pound Ivj 10 Fire Department to inl 08 Fire Department Real Estate ■.■.'.■. i' m6 « Fuel, Stationery &c . . 3 a^ IJ GasSupply. . ..... \1\^^ Hospital Real Estate .;;: 6 o?l 8« Hospital bjcpenses '\\\ ;;;;.". 13! 78* 35 H ^tise of Refuge Expenses " '. c in.i 61 Interest „,'!^1 .. Law Costs,...;:::";: ;;:;;:::;;:;;:::;.:::;;;::::;;::;;;; ;;•• '^"'gf^ '* Lands Redemption n 80 LossAccount ■':::':;■■■ :■ ,,1896? Markets, Uutstandim Printing ani '?prd«« ; 3.33961 dAdvertising 1.30964 Police Department 3,6^ ,♦ i^ef^"!;:::;::-;-; 'i^t! Sewerage '3''°*' 57 Sinking Fund By-Law i882:v.:::.' v.;:;." ;:::;:;:: ; 'H2° *j Stock Dividend.. ::...:... .:;: .a?! Separate Schools c elo m Water Works Department v".. .:.::v::. "..v. :::.::::. ■ cl'^ ^ Cash on hand and in Bank 31st December, 1883 3:353 06 $5".643 S" I. z. 3' 4- S- 6. 7- 8. 9' 10. II. 13. I3- «4. «S. 16. 18. 19. 30. 21. 22. a3- a4. ABSTRACT OF RECEIPTS. For the year ended3/sl December, 1883. Cash on hand and in Bank 1st Jan, 1883 ..$ 065811 Administration of Criminal Justice „. ,0 Board of Works 94 10 Board of Health ..V:: .!° ~ Burlington Beach '1° °? Bank of Hamilton General Account : V n &J 00 Cemetery •••" 'IV. ^ Fire Department ::::...::;::.::::::': IWa Government Grant ..JI a.. Hospital :.::....;:. *ii^° House of Refuge J''^, '1 Interest * ''213 46 Licenses . .:' : «'?«' ^~ LossAccount : Vtll^ Markets J'^ ^ Police Department ::::":;:: :;::: " ' ' :^it 1 Printing and Advertising . c^ Real Estate Rents :"': ,«; £1 Registry Office ::....:.::::: i «l ^ Sewer Rates, Rents and Commutations. : '" 780? 6i Stock Dividends .. ',!M? Xaxes 170 9 « waterwirii; Departmeni ; ; ; : .'; '.^'.::v::.'.'.'.'.:'.':.':.'.' [ ■ ■• ■ •• ?"'|?| ?| Outstanding Orders for 1883 : :..:::*: i,^ ja ' ^. li.^ $513,643 5a 8902:: f L ; ^ (a U«ating any subject it must be discussed on general priin^virer^' iatrt wUI be isolated cases in every community. To illustrate this br[7.J/, — a man of large means may live at an hotel, and not being engaged in business, occupies no Real Estate whatever. This is an isolated case. That man will escape taxation. He escapes now, and in my view, not unjustly. The hotel keeper with whom he lives pays sufficient to cover the cost of all the benefit his Kucst enjoys, and it is included in what he pays for his board and lodging, I only mention such cases because so many people are apt to pick out such an instance and use it as an argument against a scheme which is otherwise good, using the exception to disprove instead of to prove the general rule. Setting aside therefore isolated cases, I assume that every one who has a permanent position in the City lives in a house suited to his requirements, and that every one who is engaged in business occupies in addition to his dwelling some business premises. Doctors are about the only exception to this rule, as they seldom have any special place of business beyond I heir dwelling. For the sake of disposing of the question of personalty from the personal properly owners' point of view, for I am now arguing in favor of its exemption, I will further assume that none of the parties I am now writing about (that is owners of personalty in contradistinction to Real Estate owners) own any real estate, but simply occupy it as tenants. The law of supply and demand will of course regulate the amount of rent paid. However much people may contend to the contrary, this must be the inevitable result. The landlord will add to the rent the equivalent of the increase which he is obliged to pay on his Real Estate on account of the exemption of personalty, if the demand for Real Estate will warrant it. The only case which r -^urs to me in which the proposed change could create any hardship would '.^e in the case of leases at a fixed rental, the landlord agreeing to pay the taxes. In this event the landlord would have to pay the increased amount of taxes until the expiration of the lease, and could not collect it from the tenant. Such cases might become the subject of special relief by the Court of Revision. 'hey would be few in number, and would soon die out. No relief should ven on any lease entered into after notice of application for the change in sia- tion nor for any lease having more than three years to run at the time of Act coming into force, except as to those three years. This would dispose of the objection which has been made that people bought Real Estate with a certain state of law existing, and that it is unjust to change the law ; an objection which, if carried to its full extent, would absolutely prevent legislative change altogether. I desire now to compare the position of persons of different classefi, comprising together the whole community, and will divide them as follows : I, Real Estate owners ; 2, Merchants, Manufacturers and others holding large amounts of tangible personal property ; 3, Persons of independ- ent means holding large amounts of intangible personal property ; and 4, Mechanics, Operatives, and others working for daily wages. There are certain things which all these classes require and enjoy in common. There is also a principle of such evident fairness and of such universal application in every other transaction of life that it is difficult to understand why it should not be an ingredient (which it certainly is not) in Municipal Taxation, That principle is the principle of a Quid pro Quo, or in other words, that if you charge a person a sum of money for anything, he has a right to expect not merely something for his money, but a fair equivalent, I am quite certain that those who read this would consider it as a most remarkable thing if a butcher or baker should claim to be entitled to charge a customer for his meat or bread in proportion to his customer's assessed value in the City. A loaf of bread is of a certain value, and of no more value to one than to another. What would be so ridiculous in ordinary business transactions is equally absurd in Munici- pal matters. I will illustrate what I mean by reference to item 2 Board of Works, $53,808.47; item 4 Board of Education, $60,000; item 13 Fire Department, $19,704.08; and item 27 Police Department, $32,688.13, Every individual in the four classes into which I have divided the community derives the same personal benefit from the expenditure of these items. The Board of Works expended the ".bove amount in improving the roads and sidewalks. It is of course clear that each person as an individual derives as much benefit from this expenditure as another, and no more. The persou who occupies a $1,000 house enjoys the same benefit as the individual who lives in a $20,000 house. Can anyone say that the latter has any more good out of the roads and sidewalks than the other ? Yet he pays just twenty times as much for the accommodation. This seems bad enough. Where is the Qttid f^tmo f We are in fiict in that CTse taxinf; a certain aninant of personalty^, hat is the amount expended on he vacant land and thereby con- verted into Realty. However I do not intend to advocate the assessment of land alone, exclusive of the improvements, for manv reasons, principally because it would havt- the effect of imposing; tou heavy a burden on the work- ing classes, for ii must be »x>rne in mm! that Henrv George's plan of raising revenues from the land only, while it might ben^fit that class in England where not one in a million owns any land, would work exactly in the opposite wav here where nearly all own land ; hut I do contend that admittmg the absence <>f equivalent value which the one person (viz., the $20,000 house owner) •JufT'Ts if th other (viz , the $f,ooo house owner) receives equivalent value, we should not pn to the furihtr injustice of saying to the owner of the $20,000 house "we admit that you pay twentv times as muoh as your neigh- bour for rrads, sidewalks, street lamps, sch« ols, police and fire protection, but yon own $|oo,oro of personal properlv, and you must pav on that as well as your house." There appears rank injustice in this. What benefit is the expenditure of this money to personal property. All these expenditures must, I think, be looked on as either for the personal protection and comfort of the individual or the improvement of Real Estate, by which I mean making Real Estate of some value or more v.ilue to the owner. It has been urged that owners of person.il property are largely benefitted by the expenrlifure of the City money. Thif merchants and manufacturers with large storks ofgoods require more police anri fire pr >teiii(m th^n ordinary ci;iz-n>:. It is only these two items that are claimed in this way, and they only amount to the sum of $53,000 or there- abouts. Certainlv merchants and manufacturers who hold a large amount of tangible personal property are benefitted by this expenditure, f'ut do ihey not pay handsomely for it. To begin with, such persons almost invariably employ private watchmen, and having already, in common with other citizens, paid their full share of these expenses on their dwelling, they certainly pay quite enough on their business premises to cover the extra benefit they derive from these items of expenditure. Next take the schools. How does this affect personal property ? It is an expenditure for the benefit of individuals. Why IS the owner of a large amount of personal property to be assessed for schools ? Does he get any value whatever for his money? He has already as an individual paid his share of this tax on his dwelling, which entitles him to all the privileges of sending his children to the schools. Possibly he pays a further large sum for his business premises, and the only way many of these charges can be defended is that if the land was not occupied by business premises it might be covered by dwellings which would be occupied by persons who would pay taxes. This is a mere theory, because it is quite clear that if it was not for the employment of personal property and the occupation of the buildings for that purpose, a large amount of the Real Estate would remain vacant and be utterly unremuneraiive. I will now discuss item 34, Water Works Expenditure, $63,052.08. An attempt is made in this case to give a Q74id pro Quo. It is not altogether a success m that way, as the water rates are based solely on the assessed value of the properly into which the water is introduced, and in no way whatever (except in isolated cases) on the quantity used. When I say it is not a success I mean in an equitable point of view. A person occupying a house worth a $1,000, and paying $9 75 a year, may and probablv does use fifty times as much water as another person who occupies an office worth $2,500, and pays $18 75 a year. The Street Watering is also, I believe, not based in any way upon the area watered and consequently on the amount of water used, but on c -11^1*^^^^^ v*'"« of 'he property in front of which the watering is done. Still there is some fairness. Only those who use the water or are able to use the water pay for it. Real Estate near which the water pipes do not pass does not pay anything. Those who have not the water introduced only pay half rates. In the Abstract of Receipts it appears that the sum of $1 13,146.40 was received from water rates and street watering rates. This $113,146.40 IS paid entirely on Real Estate. How is that? Why should not personalty be assessed ? If anyone residing in a house is assessed on that house for good roads, sidewalks, schools, gas, fire and police protection, and then has to pay on all his personal property for the same thing, why in the name of common sense should not his personalty pay for the water ? Would not this be quite as equitable as to assess his personal property for the other items. It is not necessary to go through all the items of expenditure, as many of them are of small amount and referable to the same principle as those which J hav? ^ » ^^ I A m^ » ^^ » A JTw ■1r*8dy discussed. I will only speak of two other items Sew-mge and Interest. What has sewerage to do with pers.ewerage must be provided. This IS a convenience attache.) especially to the house occupied by any person, and the taxes paid on the house should cover thi<* as well as other charges. Take for example a r.>w of dwelling houses of unifo-^m size and containing similar accommodation, and also rented at the same yearly rental. Now, of half-a- dozen tenants, no two are alike as far as regards their wealth. One may be a poor widow struggling to support herself and little ones by keeping boarders, for whioh purpo-ieshe requires a house far above her own individual wints. Her next door nt-ignbor may be a merchant or manufactuier and so on_ All these pe »ple evid.-ntly enjov all the sani<: benefi' fr )m the .Sewerage, Schools, Gas, Police, Fire Department, and other su'>jects of exjHjnditure Tfiese thmgs cost a certain amount to provide and therefore a certain definite value can be given for a certain amount of m mey. The landlord can only get the .same amount of rent from each tenant. Me can't ask any larger sum from the rich man because he is rich. Why then should the rich man pay mo e for these items. Is this equitably or fair ? It does not so seem to me. I lie next item I sliall discuss is Interest, $132,997. This includes interest on Wa-er Works Debentures which amounts to about $60,000, leaving about $73,000 for General Purposes and other debentures. As before stated the revenue froni the Water Works, including street watering rates, amounted to $1 13,146. which is more than sufficient to cover the interest on the debenture*, the Sinking P und proportion about $9,500, and charges against revenue, which Items amount in the aggregite to about $100,000, and helps toward the amount expended on Capital Account, aboui $30,000. As before stated, the revenue from Water Works is derived now wholly from Real Estate, so that the $73,000 of interest is all I have to discuss. This is required to pay ihe interest on the old debts, which debts were mainly incurred in bonuses to R.dl- ways and other improvements which were deemed necessary or advisable to improve the City, and to keep it up in such way as to make it of some repu-a- tion as a place of business, so as to induce persons with capital to cast in their lot with us. This interest is a charge that should be bo.ne by Real Estate only. This indebtedness is of twenty-five or thirty years standing at least. It IS over twenty years since the debt was re-arranged, and there seems no fairness m expecting personal property of persons who had nothing to do with contracting th )se debts— who derived n.> benefit from those debts— to assist in paying them off. It is very diflFeren i; h Real Estate. These debts were incurred at a time when it was feared that jther places would spring up which would go ahead of us, which would necessarily have caused a great decline in the values of Real Estate. Merchants would have left the place and taken their personalty with them, but the land and empty buildings would have remained. These debts were incurred to save the Real Estate owner, not to beneht personal property. It was very much of the nature of a speculation which was not entirely successful. Probably merchants and others holding personal pioperty might have been as active as Real Estate owners in incur- mg these debts. Th- y acted in a public spirited way, and had the interest of the City at heart, but if the matter is looked at without prejudice, it will, I thi.k, be manifest that the actual effect was to improve thev.due of Real Es ate. It will be well remembered that there was a great boom in Real Estate about the time these debts were incurred, say 1851-2-3. Lots were sold then at prices which they have never reached since. The effect was to raise the price of Keal Estate, and large amounts changed hands at big prices. Upon looking at the Abstract of Receipts, it will be seen that the amount raised directly from the people by assessment arises from the Taxes and Water Rates These two Items amount to $425,500 or thereabouts, of which over one-f urih is already raised entirely from Real Estate, and I have endeavoured to «how why I consider that the other three-fourths should be raised in the same way. It seems to me to be a mistake lo jump to the conclusion that every one iii the City should be taxed according to his wealth, fo assert this as a mere proposition without showing any principle of equity and justice to support it. IS unreasonable and illogical. The City spends its money practically, or I think I mean theoretically, in the same way as an individual receiving a certain eciuivalent of work for the money expended. This means that a certain amount of water ii pumped into the reservoir and delivered in the City for & U n^'I^nuT °^ ■"""«>' "Pended. This i, worth «o much . gallon, and there gallons wfi.le another pays hut five cents.' in the name way theiJ U no ,S„*^ Tm"""* *''^*'"J'* »^7 '^"'y "»"** " "'»«:»' for the privilege of with all other items of cxjienditure. But I am wilRng to submit to thi« nequali.ysofarasKeal Estate is concerned, on the principle (poor a°iti) mi.hth^n''"''Tv""'.°".1P''=*'^''' " '*'8' »>""«« or business '^pre.Jises fl il . L ' consider all the expenditure as incidental and appurtenant to vleonh''r'.T'.'^''^"^l-"lf.'^""*'^ '^' commodity is Used on the of he ar.ipll' 1 .''' {"r^'i^"*' " '" '"'='^""'^' ''«"'" »'">" °" ''« cost price oflhe a tide supplicl. I fail to see any reason why we should ko beyond think Vhlt T'T'^'^y gfu'nl^le. but if they honestly consider the subject I oa d cln?n h '"''"!' """' T '^^?'l "^ "'*' ^''''""' °f »" equivalent for r^oney &.T, ' controverted, and that by assessing ReaPEstate only, every Tfh^ u 1"'' '■**^ P ""•" "," ^ ^"'^ ^*'''''' """ 's that each pays in proportion ? , Lf'^' ^''f'^ ^>rmegr;i] portion of the whole city which he occupies til Trl" •? '"*'• '^*"u" 'L'^ "^"^y of supply and demand, but still the iiijus- nee such as it is vu : the absence of a fair equivalent fr)r the money paid, is Tr n^r^y '^""'^'* '"• "J'^.^^y •^»" '" *"y o'''«^ but the brinjng in of anv^H UrT'? ''T^^^ '^"'"'■^' •*''^ uniformity of injustice, and without ZLnnJ •"^''' °'' co>-responding advantage places the owner of peisonal property in a very unfair position. exemnHnn"*'llI''°"i ' ^^.r^*^'''^ "^^ assessment of Real Estate only, without any of oTaCnf v^" Government and City property, and the buildings onlj nLv 1 fu T'''*"^'' ^«?**?'"e 'he land on which they are erected and con- cni^f .r \ ; ''"'* \ '^'J ""'^ '" °''^«' '° encourage the building of hand- LT.?H ■■'»"■ ^.' """" ' '^'^ '° '°°'' '°° closely.at this reason, because it would equally apply to private buildings and bring us straight down to the admit^eH/?If ''*": ^' ^" ''? ^. ""^.^r^'and it. This plan of assessment has admittedly the great merit of simplicity and the impossibility of escape, th,. .IL., l^ u"'!,^ °^ uniformity. Every one would be assesred upon i?=t»,« P'an ; the burden of taxation being referable to the value of the Real fccSDied""'?;^,' u-^ ''t"'A- P'l^ '■°^''•='"e •""='^^"'''» t° the property fc fhf Ji"" '^'"'^ admitting the weak points which I have noticed, (that IS he very different amounts paid by different individuals for the same thinu) offi. « L'r .'"^ unavoidable so far as I can see at present, the plan proposed offers greater advantages than any plan yet proposed. F F H =»«=" in .K-\ •'•'^* r*u^ proof of the satisfactory working of this proposed system in the raising of the $i 13.000 of water rates, this amount being raised exactly m I propose to raise the other three-fourths, and while the objection exists as to created nnv'^ u^ ^^^ T°u"' ^""'1^^ '''* ratepayers, this has not in fact ZTJ ^ ' "^'*'' P*.°P'^ ^^""^ *'"'"« •'s a general thing to pay according to ttieir assessment, and not by meter. or/ b ri.JJ "'■f ^5""^™ " "'^"P'f'^ '* '^'" "^^P °"t °f 'he Assessment Act all the bZeen'fi -?i ° P^'?"*' P'operty, with all the extraordinary distinctions T .ufi? I- .T"^"' '''*''" °^. P^"P"»y. which are in my opinion so unjust. I also believe that, except in isolated cases. Real Estate owners would not hnd as much difference as they think. Those who would feel the change the Zil":^^ be owners of Real Estate who have no personal property, and nrfrinSSi^uX" ''°" ''"'"' "' ""'' '^«'^'''* '°' '*»' coSmLitJ: and m.nMl!!f^ 'f " 7'^ '"■"'JS ^""".8 throughout the Province that the Assess- roent law is far from perfect, and that a change is necessary. Few people fn',Hm7,nn"" • ".• "r ,*''l' 'hey want. Thert crops up in their mind^oSe mstitution or individual whom they think escapes too easily, and they go to work to remedy that apparent grievance without considering whethef the IT^uV. ""^^t '° *Y ^"^ ^*''''- '^^'' ^°''' «f 'hing is mere tinkering, and will do more harm than good. Whether the Cities of the -rovince are Cnr^JZJ7 P''°P°^'''' \ ^° "o' know ; probably not. Our own Finance Committee have rejected it. I am not discouraged at this, and again lay the matter before you and the public. . «s m '«y uic And remain, yours truly, Hamilton, Ont., Dec. sth, 18^4. GEO. S. PAPPS.