Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1844-02-01
rtyANcEs or Tnn sTATE--THE TAX BILL

FINANCES or THE sTaTE--rhE TAX JILL
We published last week, the clear and iIea iepo.'
OF the Finance Committee oil Tue eiouse ;o,ve Of The
This report ex bits most gratifying picture o. ss
,osent condition and future prospects OF .ne ""4 49,,
IS Old Virginia The interest on Tue liaDi'leo = 49,
Stale has been promptly paid, and the means t,, r,
pc, not only 10 pay the interest LOT me Iusu This
~ Of gradually the whole of the public deot. ',s
n,os,eet is the legitimate result oil Inc muIh
h,scd Tax hill of the last year by lnciuu'ns w
new subjects of taxation, the burden mas oee -
distributed that II has fallen very ligh'y upon tie
Mo Another consideration is, that by equaizng 'ne
m ge ,l. landed and negro interest, which has'
Lars,oforp horne nearly the whole burden no"
a,,nds upon something like equality ana tne pre-
sent session of the Legislature mas oeeh en1u y
reduce the tax upon that important interest; ~, ~"
ever, the subjects haa no. 9een ,rould In
haeo inevitable Here them the people can at ohoe
se the wisdom and justice of the Tax Blu OF thr IDS
year The Stat. has been extrcated rom "e' o''s
ties her credit has been placed upon higher ana "'
solid ba sis than il has occupied for many years past
So, h,nds nay commanding premium Of nine pr
(,.,,,n and these desirable results produced by sys
tom NJ taxation so laid TO bear very lightly, anu WIN
as near an approximation 10 eqnal''y as ca' We ~
cd We think that the whole State IS unnef ias''ns oo
legations to the Democratic members OF 'ie
gslature, by whom tnis syssem nus oee
introduced. a.,
While upon this subject we ask the attention OF te
people of Albemare to the course oil ther Pfesen.
epates on this question of taxation Messrs ooutha
and B,own as is well known, were elected because Of
the s.bue and cry that gotten up against Messrs
Randolnb and Leake account of their vote ior the
nr hill The bill itself denounced III every varle.
y of abusive ephet that the ingenuity OF the federa
SINNERS could de sise Mr.. Bazsleel Brown parucu,
urly distinguished himself b. his abb, eloquent anu
maste,lv dsuuison the absruse subject oil finance
and came very proving that If he had had the Of
rect,on Of the "a,s OF State he could have pa'd The
public debt without any taxes at all. mere were o"e
or two items of the tax bill which especially cAc''eo
the wrath of Mr.. Brown and hs admirers. one waE
the tax upon salaries Mr.. Brown really grew pathetic
several times in bewailng the hard fate oil young men,
who had 10 support their mothers sisters, (dRcedey
by their personal exerlions and who had to pay lax
upon their hard earnings! After his election we uhy
anticipated that he would make The walls OF the eap
,ol ring with his rich and melodous eloquence, IN ae
nouncing The tar upon salaries; and doubt not thai
all the young in the county whose saiiries were
taxed look up him father. But how mas ut o'S-
appointed us ALL He has not even applied his liltie nm
ger to lift the burden from their shoulders; but mas ao
solutcy rated far this rory taa which he SO eeinsy
denounced last Spring.
Another subject that was especially anlmadVel'eu
upon by the Federal orators, particularly IN Charioes
Vile and ScGtlsvlle the mode OF taxing town pre-
perty From the year 1889 down to this PERIOD Town
lots have been taxed upon the yearly value while iano
in the country has been taxed upon the 9gsTe9ae W.
lue For instance according to the present tax o'
house and lot IN town, which rent for Sl0O, VIII pay
tax of 50 co. while land is taxed l2 cents upon the
aggregate value, without regard to It's ProductVeness
From the fact that this mode of taxing The two kinds
of property has prevailed for fftyhv years II IS lar
to presume that it is sound and just one The wings
however last Spring held Messrs. Randolph and Leake
responsible for the alleged injustice done 10 the iowns
and this was one of the evils that new hnanc,eF
Mr. Brown, and his coadutor were 10 remedy. Do
they do it, No. They both voted for the tax OF IS oo
per hundred dollars yearly value upon town lots, while
they put tax of l2i cents upon the hundred dollars
aggregate value of land in the country. So that they
have perperated the very injustice upon the towns Ct
there be injustice in ) for which our late Delegates
were So much blamed. We hope the Wings of Char
louisville and Scottsville will see to this matter.
The present Tax Bill contains all The odi0ns features
of the last, for which it paaded before the people
twelve months ago, another "3ill of denominations
1t would have been supposed, therefore, that our pre-
sent ant-,ax delegates would have voted against it
They did not however. Mr.. Bazeec Brown actually
voted for it, while Mr.. V. w. Soulha happened to
be absent when the vote was taken. lie was called
blu, he did mt come.
Here, then, is the result of this hnmbusgery about
the Tax Bill. Messrs Randolph and Leake were
turned out because they had voted for 1t and now,
the very man whe elected i'll their stead, has
voted for bill, exactly, nearly 81, like the other IN
ell its principles This IL but evidence Of the
sincerity of our opponents.
Charlottesville JefcrSonidn.