HO W TO DO IT.

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To this the revision commissioners of 1870 replyunqualifiedly in the affirmative, and for the followingreasons:

Every person possessed of personal property, unlesshe convert such property into money and refrain fromall use of it, affords some sign or index of its possession.What is that sign ?

At the beginning of the seventeenth century, the samesystem of indiscriminate and general taxation for localpurposes now existing in the United States prevailedin a greater or less degree in England, France , Bel­ gium , and Holland . In those countries experience gainedthrough years of practice, assisted in some by a despoticadministration, has led to the conclusion that the rentalvalue of houses or other occupied buildings is the mostcertain index of the value of the personal estate of theowners or occupants, and is also the best measure of acitizen’s income and ability to pay taxes that can beadopted.

Discussing the incidence of local taxation upon houserents, Mr. John Stuart Mill , in his “Principles of Politi-cal Economy,” says that “ No part of a person’s expend-iture is a better criterion of his means, or bears on thewhole more nearly the same proportion to them, thanthe rent he pays, or the rental value of the house andland he occupies.” Mr. Mill says:

“ A house tax is a nearer approach to a fair incometax than a direct assessment on income can easily be,