Taxation of the Farming Business

Abstract

When systems of tax levy were formulated in this country, visible property—land, improvements, chattels—was the chief source of wealth. A tax on tangible property seemed fairest, and the general property tax was accordingly developed. But today persons best able to pay taxes may have most of their wealth in intangible assets—stocks, bonds, bank accounts, notes, mortgages—hard to reach and to tax. Tangible property is no longer necessarily a criterion of tax-paying capacity. The standard of ability to pay has shifted from property to income. The income tax has become popular, because in our time it seems to come closer than the general property tax to the ideal of taxation according to ability to pay.