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Who pays your taxes? : a consideration of the question of taxation / by David A. Wells, George H. Andrews, Thomas G. Sherman, Julien T. Davies, Joseph Dana Miller, Bolton Hall, and others
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HOW TO DO IT.

39

streets, and the certainty of disastrous competition opposethe establishment of other companies. Second, Tax land,exclusive of buildings, at a uniform valuation of fifty percent, of its true market value. Third, Tax the buildings at

their full market -value. There wuuld be uiuic than suffi-cient to defray all proper expenses of local government.

Some advocate a poll tax of say a dollar, as a conditionof voting. So small an amount might seem to be a trifleto the industrious; but it is hard enough to get men tovote any way, so much so that many propose penaltiesfor not voting, and we must remember that many, eventhose who are indolent and sluggish, may be quite capableof making a good choice of a representative. They mayalso be poor, and that dollar,-which is not worth con-sidering for the millionaire, may be a real obstacle in theway of their exercising the franchise. Whilst it is truethat every man has but one vote, and that the vote of theman who has nothing may cancel that of Mr. Gould, wemust not forget that Mr. Goulds wealth and position givehim an influence entirely disproportioned not only to hisvote, but to the dollar which you would charge him. Hecontrols thousands of votes.

The poll tax law is in operation in Pennsylvania , andby the buying of poll tax warrants forms one of the mostpowerful instruments of corruption in the hands of themachine. This subject is fully discussed in Elys Tax-ation of American States and Cities.

As for laws prohibiting the sale and buying of votes,