Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1839-05-02
REPORT

instead OF fostering and encouraging, has
tended to discourage and depress COM
merce. The same principles which IN
England have sustained The corn laws in
that country, have prevailed here. The
Legislative power has been chiefly in the
hands the asriculturalisls. They have
been accusIomed 10 pay tax on their pro-
perry, according TO its estimated value
Their capital is fixed and cannot escape
from the impost. They have naturally
enough considered, that capital invested in
trade ought 10 contribute IFS fair proper
tiOn 10 the revenue of the country, and
without sufficiently considering its floating
character, the facility with which it can be
removed beyond. the reach OF their taxa
tinn, and its constant tendency 10 escape
from it, they have generally imposed taxes
Oh this floating, OIL the same principles as
on fixed capital. Ii is believed that much
heavier taxes have generally been imposed
on the former than Oh the latter. In one. of
the Southern States, thirty cents ad valo-
rem is levied on every hundred dollars, Of
the lands granted by the Stale, and sixty
cents per head on all slaves; and for a
number of years in that very State, tax
Of sixty cents on the hundred dollars of
stock in trade has been levied. This ad
valorem tax on the lands is levied on an
estimate of their value, which in most in
stances is very greatly below their real
valuc-and slaves may now he stated at
an average value of three hundred dol
lars, so that in fact lands and slaves do
not pay one fourth, certainly not one third
Of the tax imposed on stock in trade. and
your committee believe corresponding
taxation prevails in all the Southern and
South Western States. Besides no re-
gard has been had TO The productiveness or
unproducliveness Of this stock in trade
Goods may have come to falling market,
when it might be ruinous to sell. If they
are kept for better timcs-if they are not
forced on the market, and are at the end
of the year found still in the hands of the
merchant, they are again compelled 10 pay
the lax, while in the mean time interest
and all other incidental expenses are ac-
cumulaling on the investment. In pay
ing tax On land and agricultural capital,
it is paid on what almost without fail yields
an income or profit. In paying it on COM
mercial capital. it is paid OF what may or
may not, in the fluctuations Of trade, make
either profit or loss. 1t is scarcely to
be expected that large stocks of goods in
The face Of such a tax, can ever accumu-
late in the hands Of our merchants. Your
committee know that it has produced this
evil and driven goods from us, which oller-
crwise would have remained here to seek
a market. To secure the trade at which
we aim and 10 which the South is justly
entitled, large stocks of goods are indis-
pensable. The foreign Merchants and our
brethren the North, must he encouraged
to bring their goods here 10 await sale
with the full assurance that they shall be
subject to 10 taxation until sales shall
have been effected. Then may we expect
10 see our ware houses filled with all kinds
Of commodIieS-the merchant of Man
chester, or Leeds or Lowell, will not hesi-
tate to send his goods o,be stored here
The importing merchant will not have
his capital diminished without certainty
of being able to make profit to replace
il. The merchant, who CORES from the
interior to lay in his supplies, will have no
need to 60 10 another market TO find an
assortment, or to make his purchase here,
burdeued by tax from which he derives
no benefit. 1t is not easy to estimate the
impulse which such state Of things would
give TO our trade-how much it would
both encourage The importing merchant,
to have always on hand large stock OF
gouds, aud attract The merchants from our
interior to our Emporiums. 1t would en-
courage competition of both sellers and
buyers in our markets, and which could
scarcely fail to produce the most favora-
Bile results:
Your Committee believe that by dif-
ferent mode Of laying taxes on the COM
mcrcial community, the Southern and S.
Western States might avoid The evils
which your Committee are persuaded, have
arisen from the mode hitherto pursued
without any diminurion Of revenue. Let
the tax be imposed OIL the income of the
merchant, on the interest which he derives
from the capital invested. and the clear
profit which he makes. The States NAV
we'll depend on his honor, on his ambition
to hold o. raise his standing among his
competitors, on his desire to maintain his
crcdit-tor faithful returns of his income.
The risk may be that he will over esti-
mate rather than under value il. and a
moderate equitable tax on it-your Com
mittoe believe would assuredly make up
for all that would be lost by abandoning
The prevalent mode oftaxius his capital
aud they submit TWO Resolutions, which if
carried OUT into advised legislation, might,
they trust, aid US efficiently in the great
object in which they are now engaged.
Resolved, That this Convention ear
nestly recommend TO the respective Leg
islatures OF the Southern and South West