No. 295.
Mr. Read
to Mr. Fish.
Athens, August 7, 1875. (Received September 2.)
Sir: In a previous dispatch, No. 64, which I had the honor to address to you, I referred to the land-tax as one of the three great evils which afflict modern Greece.
Mr. Sotiropoulos, former minister of finance, in his able brochure, entitled $$$$$, or Statement of Change in the Taxation System, (now, unfortunately, out of print,) says that the system of tithing, or taking the tenth part of the gross revenue, was long since abandoned by the civilized world for the following reasons:
- 1st.
- Because it is lacking in justice and equality. In order that a tax [Page 667] may be equal and just it must take from every citizen an analogous part of the revenue which he derives from his property. Revenue is the net and not the gross production. In the latter, productive capital is comprised, that is to say, work and pecuniary disbursements, which is not equal for all kinds of crops and all sorts of lands.
- 2d.
- Because by taking a tax from the disbursed capital the disbursement of that capital is discouraged, and improvements are consequently discouraged.
- 3d.
- Because the system of the tenth part is very expensive and oppressive to the taxpayer.
This system, having as a basis the gross revenue produced each year, gives rise to the necessity of ascertaining that revenue annually. At this point, however, the taxpayer is tempted to conceal the products subject to taxation. The government, on the other hand, to avoid being defrauded in that quarter, as well as to escape from the excessive expenses required for the maintenance of a large force of officials to collect the tax, sells its rights in many instances to speculators. These greedy locators, as they are called, dog the unhappy taxpayers throughout his labors, to his infinite inconvenience and positive pecuniary loss, for the purpose of finding out the axact amount of his crops.
In describing the manner in which taxes are verified, according to the system of the tenth part, we may begin with cattle.
In civilized countries, usually, remarks Mr. Sotiropoulos, cattle are not subject to a separate tax, for, being fed from the product of the soil, they contribute by their manure to the advancement of that production, thus paying a part of the land-tax.
But in Greece cattle are separately taxed. In the month of March the taxpayer is obliged to go to the office of the mayor. There he is compelled to present a declaration in duplicate, containing an accurate account of the kinds and number of his cattle, except pigs. For the latter animal a separate declaration is necessary at another period of the year. One copy of the declaration is returned to the taxpayer; the other is entered in a book. This book of declarations is sent at the end of March to the financial superintendent, who calculates the tax to be paid, and immediately afterwards forwards to the treasurer a catalogue of the amounts due from each person. The latter official thereupon orders the gathering of the tax. Before the payment of the tax neither the exportation of cattle nor their transferment from one province to another is permitted.
If the financial superintendent suspects that any of the cattle-raisers have not truly declared their cattle, he orders, in conjunction with the subprefeet, an enumeration. This is either done under his own direction, or it is taken by a person appointed by him, who is accompanied by an escort of two armed men and by a clerk of the mayor. Each enumeration is prepared in duplicate, and is considered by the law the final standard, in accordance with which the tax is to be imposed. When these documents have reached the bureau of the financial superintendent, a statement is prepared by the latter, which includes the number of animals discovered, with the names of the individuals concealing them. One copy of this paper is addressed to the treasurer, and a second is sent to the royal prosecutor, who at once takes legal steps against the offenders.
If the discovered tax does not exceed twenty drachmas, (about $3,) the affair is referred to the police court. If it is of greater value, suit is brought before the court for the trial of misdemeauors.
In either case a tip-staff is sent to summon the taxpayer, who, abandoning [Page 668] his work, runs up to the seat of justice, (it may be miles away,) and, finding a lawyer, pays him to assume his defense and prove his innocence. He also calls witnesses, all of whose expenses he likewise defrays. As, however, the enumeration statements above referred to are legally considered full proof, he usually loses his suit with costs, and is besides condemned to pay three times the amount of the Tax.
After the termination of the action against him in one of the courts previously mentioned, the taxpayer may resort to the civil courts, and attack the document as false. This course involves great loss of time, labor, and money, and renders the taxpayer liable to a heavy pecuniary penalty in case of failure.
In referring to this unjust and burdensome system, the minister of finance, in 1856, declared that the work of the enumerators had been generally blamed. Indeed, on account of the appointment of incompetent and unscrupulous persons, the greater part of the enumerations had been attacked as false by individuals of exceptional spirit and resources. Some of them even had been annulled by the courts upon the ground of the incapacity of the agents employed to take them.
From the official statements it appears that men drawn from the dregs of the populace have been invested with the authority of enumerators. These creatures have in some cases received money for giving warning to cattle-owners of their coming, so that the latter might conceal their stock. More frequently, however, they have sought to ingratiate themselves with the mayors by favoring in a similar way their political friends, or by punishing in an opposite manner their political enemies. They have been sued, says the minister, both for aiding to conceal cattle and for ascribing to individuals animals which never exitsed.
In like fashion, but at other seasons of the year, the tax is ascertained and collected upon bees, pigs, mulberry and fig trees, and all products taxed so much per strema. The declaration of grass is made in March; of vineyards, in April; of kitchen-gardens, in May; of potatoes, onions, garlic, mulberry and fig trees, in June; of gardens, bees, and tobacco-leaf, in July; of cotton, in August; and of pigs, in September. For each of these things the tax-payer must furnish a separate declaration; so that he who has the misfortune to possess all of these products is obliged to prepare perhaps fifteen separate documents in duplicate. This must be repeated annually, with the exception of the statements relative to vineyards, gardens, mulberry and fig trees. The examinations of declarations must take place within one month after they are sent to the bureau of the financial superintendent. The inspection of vineyard-papers, however, may be delayed five months. Special enumerators, experts, or geometricians are appointed to compare, and, if necessary, to revise, the declarations of the tax-payer. The latter is compelled to receive these various officials at the different periods of the year already referred to, and to allow them to make such examinations in detail as they may choose.
Whether the persons selected understand their duties, or whether they fulfill them conscientiously, are more than doubtful questions, as I am informed.
The classification of the lands according to their qualities must be made, in conformity with the law, immediately after the end of the delay of the revisement.
The committee charged with the accomplishment of this work, composed of the financial superintendent, the subprefect, the mayor, and three or five of the largest tax-payers, assemble many times during the [Page 669] year at the capital of the province, their expenses being paid by the treasury of the commune or by the tax-payers.
It is easy to understand in what manner the classification of lands is performed by this committee, the majority of whom have never seen the properties upon which they sit in judgment. The fertility of the soil and the atmospheric influences are frequently taken into consideration. But these gentlemen do not inquire whether the farmer’s crop has been properly cultivated; and, what is still more vital, whether it has failed, or has been utterly destroyed at the time of the harvest.
Consequently, it often happens that the entire income is not sufficient to pay the tax.
Reserving the further discussion of this important question for another dispatch,
I have, &c.