Rhode Island American And Providence Gazette

MASSACHUSETTS. A resolution has passed the House by a vote of 291 to 34, to levy a state tax of $75,000. The motion met with but little opposition. Mr Saltonstall said, the city of Boston would pay one third of the whole tax and the remainder must and ought to come out of the farmers. He know of no class at present so able to pay a tax as the farmers.

We are glad to hear so good an account of the farmers in Massachusetts. The Rhode Island farmers ought to reflect upon the advantages they enjoy in comparison with their neighbors. Here we have no state debt and our revenue more than pays our expenses. And yet pamphlets are circulating to make the farmers dissatisfied even with total exemption from taxation. Is this reasonable? Their real estate is more valuable than the same property is in Massachusetts, because there are no taxes, and none anticipated. The difference is more than is generally supposed, even in town taxes. We know of two estates, of about equal value, on either side of the line between Cumberland and Attleborough, the former of which is taxed $7 and the latter $40, for town expenses. To this last the state tax will now be added. Ought not, then, the Rhode-Island farmer, to be perfectly satisfied with his present condition, without wishing for a change in men and measures, that cannot better his condition, and may involve him in taxes similar to those imposed on his neighbors?