Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 198, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 August 1910 — PROHIBITION OF LIQUOR MAKES LIGHTER TAXES [ARTICLE]

PROHIBITION OF LIQUOR MAKES LIGHTER TAXES

Superintendent of Anti-Saloon League Bases Claim on Report of J. L. Peetz, State Statistician. Four conclusions are reached by the officers of the Indiana Anti-Saloon League from their study of tax conditions in counties, cities, towns . and townships in Indiana prior to and following the enactment and application of the county local option law. These conclusions are based on a summary of conditions as found in each of these four units of government and upon figures obtained through the Indiana Bureau of Statistics. As presented by E. S. Shumaker, superintendent of the Anti-Saloon League, the findings indicate that the loss of the saloon revenue is more than offset by advantages to take their place. Mr. Shumaker’s conclusions are: Property appreciates in value when saloons are removed and brings greater income, hence tax rates can be lowered safely and with profit. People who have formerly been hard drinkers at once become more frugal and begin to accumulate property, which, of course, adds materially to the assessable property of a place. The more substantial class of people naturally incline to move into saloonless communities and to invest money in property. Criminal and pauper expenses are also largely reduced. "While it may be too soon,” said Mr Shumaker, “to furnish data which absolutely proves the contention that the removal of saloons has a tendency to decrease taxation, we believe that the results show that the advantage is on the side of the saloonless counties, townships, towns and cities. One thing is unmistakably clear: The predictions of the brewers, distillers and liquor dealers generally that the removal of saloons means increased taxes is absolutely without foundation.

If that be true, then how will they account for the fact that ‘wet’ counties, townships, cities and towns have increased their tax rates more generally than those that are ‘dry’? “People will remember that the tax rates levied in 1908 were paid in 1909, while those levied in 1909 where paid in 1910. “Next year when the liquor men again begin to clamor about high taxes, if the saloons are kept out, these facts can be produced in refutation. The statistics are official, being gathered from J. L. Peetz, of the Bureau of Statistics of Indiana.”