It is never possible for a system of taxation to be governed wholly by strict theoretic considerations. It must be adapted to the political and social ideas of the time and must be capable of enforcement through existing or attainable administrative agencies. Possibly the system of taxation of 1867-1880 was about as good as was possible for those days-considering the state of public intelligence on the subject of taxation, the biases, the prejudices, the special interests, the weakness of human nature, the rather inefficient administrative machinery of government, the strong spirit of individualism, and the unusual features of the economic situation. State Controller evidently had some such considerations in mind when he wrote in 1876 that our system of taxing the proceeds of mines was as nearly just as any system that would yield any revenue at all.1

The

But Nevada has made progress in the direction of economic stability and political efficiency since that time, and it is highly probable that the State will be able in the next score of years to modify its system of taxation in the direction of a more exact justice, and to administer such a system effectively. If the question of such readjustment should receive practical attention, the change from the old to a better new system might be facilitated by making the new law apply only to new enterprises.

a recent year this county received as its share of the state school money a sum almost twice as great as it paid in state taxes. At the same time the State was maintaining in the State Hospital for the Insane twenty-seven inmates committed from that county.

'Report of the State Controller, 1874, p. 10.

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MORAL ASPECTS

There is a moral aspect to all questions of taxation, but the moral question is not so simple as it seems to be to the average man who has given the question a little thought. There is some tendency in the popular discussion of the subject to maintain the view that the real problem is almost, if not wholly, one of honesty-how to get men to adopt a constitution whose provisions are dictated by considerations of public interest and not of private greed, how to get honest legislators, honest administrative officials, honest courts, honest taxpayers.

The view here taken is that it is not altogether a matter of honesty, but largely one of public intelligence. If the people once clearly see things as they are, the number who will oppose right action through dishonest motives will be far too small to be effective. Without this general intelligence necessary to wise public action, it is probable that some of the most honest and well-meant individual efforts toward the right would fail to work in the direction of real justice.

Looking at the whole question of mining taxes from this point of view, I would say that the conduct of the mine owners in paying as little tax as possible does not call for any unusual moral reprobation. They were just about like the rest of us. It is a commonplace that if taxes can be evaded they are not paid. The mining interests of the early history of the State enjoyed some unusual advantages. They were strong, and in the confusion of ideas as to what was right it was not at all strange that the strong decided the issue in their own interest.

In more recent years little thought has been given to the subject. By force of custom, people have come to regard the present system as about right in theory and they are demanding better enforcement. The confusion of ideas still persists, and hence, in the face of a constitutional provision, there has been little effort in the direction of serious readjustments in the law itself, and the special favors won by the big mining interests of early days continue to be enjoyed by their successors.

Doubtless the people of Nevada will in the not distant future consider anew some of the more fundamental questions of taxation. The growing importance of agriculture and of other interests, and the increasing economic stability of the State will soon justify a reconstruction of our revenue system, and when that time comes it is possible that a more just method of taxing mines will be found.

CHAPTER V

THE GENERAL PROPERTY TAX

In early American history, when state taxes were small and when industry was not greatly diversified, the general property tax worked no serious injustice. Since our industrial organization has become more complex, since the need for public revenues has multiplied, and since the forms of intangible property have become so numerous and the quantity so great, the general property tax no longer fits the situation. It is defective from the standpoint of every theory of taxation and has broken down in practise.

As a consequence of the more or less clear perception of the failure of the general property tax to secure equitable results, all parts of the United States are going through the experience of trying to reform taxation. The earlier efforts usually take the form of provision for better administrative machinery on the theory that the system would be all right if it were effectively administered. But the more efficient the administration the more evident it is that the system is wrong in its fundamental features, and so we find a tendency more or less general to abandon the general property tax in favor of a system better adapted to present conditions. In this movement, many of the States, including Nevada, are hampered by constitutional requirements which permit of no consistent policy of reform. In such States there is a tendency to evade the provisions of the constitution by

means of legislation some of which has never been tested in the courts. Some features of the system have been nearly if not quite nullified by administrative practises which, because of their universality and long continuation, might be regarded as a part of the unwritten constitution.

Some States had fewer constitutional restrictions, while others have in recent years amended their constitutions so that they are able to proceed in a frank open way and to abandon all pretense to a general property tax. These States are in process of devising systems of taxation adapted to the needs of the Twentieth Century. This movement is supported by the experience of the nations of Europe, and it is in harmony with the best thought of students of financial science in America.

In Nevada the general property tax was made a part of the organic law, the constitution exempting mines, mining claims, and public property only.

The Legislature shall provide by law for a uniform and equal rate of assessment and taxation, and shall prescribe such regulations as shall secure a just valuation for taxation of all property, real, personal, and possessory, excepting mines and mining claims, the proceeds of which alone shall be taxed, and also excepting such property as may be exempted by law for municipal, educational, literary, scientific, relig ious, or charitable purposes. Constitution, Article X, as originally adopted.

The general property tax is not, in practise, just what it purports to be. Some forms of property are pretty generally taxed, but the assessments are far from uni