Note 82 — The law and administration.

R.I. Col. Recs. III, 300. The magistrates were ordered to call town meetings "with all expedition for choice of the "three men." It was further ordered "that there be a Commissioner chosen in each town, to meet with the men that shall be chosen in each town, to assess the said rate of two pence per pound, and to adjust the proportions, and sign with each Committee, and return the same to the General Treasurer." It will be remembered that there was a tax officer with a similar title at the time of the Andros government (note 71), His duties were different from those of the present commissioner. In fact it is difficult to see how the latter differed from the other three men referred to. The number of assessors does not seem to have been definite. In the case of the penny in the pound tax of 1695, the towns were to choose "two or three" men and the following year they were to choose as many as they should see fit. In the case of both taxes in 1695, tables were adopted stating the amount of tax to be collected on certain kinds of personal estate, not the valuation of the estate as in the table given on page 22. The following is the table adopted for the penny in the pound tax:

Oxen, four years old and upwards, at three pence per head 00 00 30

Steers, three years old, and all cows at two pence per head 00 00 20

All two year old, a penny per head 00 00 10

All three year old, at half penny per head 00 00 01

All sheep at one year's old and upward, at five pence per score 00 00 50

All swine above a year old at a half penny per head 00 00 01

All horses and mares above three years old, at three pence per head 00 00 30

All two years old horses and mares, at one penny per head 00 00 10

All year olds, at a half penny per head 00 00 01

All negro men servants, per head 00 01 80

Negro women servants, per head 00 00 100

It is evident that the property in the above table is taxed on its value and not on the yearly profit and, in want of further information, it would be unsafe to infer that the provision for taxing lands, houses, and trademen according to profit was intended to introduce anything in the nature of an income tax. What evidence we have tends to show that the tax was assessed not on profits, but on the value of the property, in determining which value the yearly profit was probably the most important consideration.