state poll tax. In 1903, the county poll tax was raised to $3. The old state poll tax no longer collected by the assessor had degenerated so that the tax commission of 1905 estimated that "probably not one tenth of the persons in the state who are subject to its payment ever meet the tax."[1]
Akin to this state poll tax, for general state purposes, was a tax of $2 upon every person liable for military duty, en- acted in 1862. The county court was to levy, and the sums collected were to be paid to the state treasurer and placed by him in a separate fund, known as *'the military fund." This tax was aboHshed in 1865.[2] It had been collected of those liable for military duty and not members of "some independent company." Members of these companies received two dollars a day for the time they were required to drill. The military fund was drawn upon for such payments.[3]
The Chinese Tax — Oregon's tax upon Chinamen belonged to that class of taxation in which revenue is incidental. Beginning in 1857, through enactment by the territorial legislature, Oregon indulged in discriminatory legislation against the Chinamen within her borders. Under the first law, Chinamen alone were mulcted, but in 1859, "Kanakas" (Hawaiian Islanders) and in 1862, Negroes and Mulattoes also were included in the class thus touched. The earlier acts imposing this tax were uniformly entitled "to tax and protect Chinamen mining in Oregon," and the tax was designated a license. The payments required were more commonly, $2 a month, but in 1858, the amount was raised to $4. For the privilege of trade and barter among themselves, $50 a month was to be collected.[4] From 15 to 20 per cent of the proceeds were to go tO' the state treasury. A liberal commission, generally 20 per cent, was paid for collection, and the remainder was retained by the county. In the biennium, from 1868-70, $7,-
