Herald of the times. [volume] (Newport, R.I.) 1849-1856, 1849-01-25


gentleman iiom Newport wou d h,v. ex plain
ed the manner by which he had proposed ~
= carry oui the PROVISIONS OF this bill bnt he
had q I. H. was orp sed to the b.l in toto,
and he reiterated what hs hal be;0f, sal
that the blli woul bear very hard upon Il q
- western part oi the STATIC. he was n ;av,'
Of putting more tax upon tho banks. Tie
privileges enjo,ed By them were not sufficient.
ly taXel. lie hn'w Of IN n, responsible men,
who would ply hty and even sixty thousand
dollars for The exclusive facilities OF the bank S
but The banks pai about twenty. s'y thousand
dpliars No business in his state for the la-t
twenty-five years had cen so profitable as
the banking bus ness. lie was N favor, and
the Committee on finance hal reported, bill
r lay'ns au iditionIi one-eigL,h upon the
ban! wh'eh .wouli provi 10 aloat Sl4 900
taa.ntlont revenue. The bet evidence that
to banks could afford to pay the tax was
>. hat the people chose to own, ard continued
10 own, this bank property. The General
Goverhment. as We knew, never taxed tn"
property ol the country; il Taised its revenues
tya tax upoa imports. The expenses If the
r State lor the past year exceeded its receipts
less than ten thousand dollars. By strict
economy these expenses might be re iuced,
but not sufficiently To avoii the necessity oi
raising tax. Ihe addition 10 the bank tax
, with that which now exist, and the income
from tax upon actions in oII courts, would
creatca revenue OF 1000
Mr.. Brown sai that the bill looked like
putting the cait before the horse This vau-
4 ation bill had nothing 10 do with tax bin !;
when trat comes in, he should go into it a
lille. he thought tha, the matter Of revenue
belonged to The Finance Com nitee, nni they
alone should inform US what action wa. ..neces
sgry.
Mr.. Crans,on explained tho manner BY
which he proposed to make the estimate. If
this bill pas'e t. committee Of two from each
county, one from the agricultural interest and
one from the other interests would be ra'e |
for the purpose OF making valuation That
committee wouldprobably address a circular
10 the assessors OF taxes requesting them TO
transmit to the committee copy oil { eir last
town valuation OF property, ani would no
doubt give the towns an opportunity 10 review
Their last valuation and make such alterations
as might be deemed necessary, and that the
valuation thus made by the towns would be
the valuation upon which the State TAX, il or
dered, would be assessed so that IT, for in.
stance, the portion OF State tax laid for
Charlestown was 5000. that town would ap
portion that $500 among It's tax payers, by
which it will appear that man who last year
paid tax of so GEMS, would Rave this year
10 pay tax probably e so cents. Mr.. {.
said tat before n bill could be brought in ard
passed for levying a tax, The Const tuition pro-
vidrd that an est mate should first be made
But he SUI posed the gent enan di not read
the Constitution quite rs much as he Gid his
Bible
Mr.. Brown said that he had spoken against
the bill, ,ecausa all our work would 90 ior
nothing if the House, after making il, shoull
refuse to make a tax. About reading the
Constitution, he did sometimes read il and il
was true there were somo 'h ngs in IT he did
not ike, AMI he would Confess lndeel, tha,
there were some things in ,he Bible he did no'
quite CON- iretcni.
Mr.. CranS'on sail that if the valuation was
made now, and no tax Immediately laid, still
il would he useful Perhaps for fifty years 10
come. Mr.. T. aIlude 10 the con lltion Of Ire
poiitca! paIt es oi the country as being favor
atle for laying tax at this time. Nith rel
erence t. tlo gentleman from Coventry he
haIily knew what to say.
Mr.. Blown, Give him some. he will bear il.
Mr. Crinslon, yes, and any thing my pu-
ny arm can inilict, nothing can do or say will
make hin even wink. But the gentleman
from Coventry says.that the farmers IN the
western part of the Stlte could not bear the
ldA pTOpbSeu- IdN uptn tHe plOiuNi'NcHS~'
of Their farms. He knew not how the case
might be, bu' in other parts of the State h
did know that the farmers wer. 10th able and
will ng TO bear the tax upon their income
From 1871 TO 1920, coming as the country
was Just ont ofhe revolution. the people i'm
pose a tax OF nearly 100000 upon them
selves. How the taxwas abolished in 1920
1t was unnecessary 10 sly. After a while II
was found a tax was necessary, an then IN
Assembly would impose tax upon Judges,
AMI tax OF dollir here AMI dollar there.
In this State, as nearly as he .ould get at il,
the average taxation Of the State, for the pur-
pose Of sustaining the town governments, was
about 50 or - so on a $1,000. luMassachu-
selts something like Sc or 81 on $1,000.
II the Legislature woul agree to lay tax
lar!e enough TO sink our public de t, (s,y
$4,000 year, which would take eighteen
yeArs,) AMI also to meet the annual average
deficiency Of the State Treasury amounting
to about \, 900, anl leave a surplus to meet
such cxlgencieS as m ght arise, the people
woul have to pay about 40 cents on 500.
But instead of 40 cents, he did not believe II
would be necessary to lay tax oil over 80
cents.
In the State OF illinois, whose debt amount
ed now TO SIG 900 900 it has been voted by a
majority OF over lo,OUO 10 lay taN VI llllI
and half in addition 10 tax Of two mills al
really imposed upon themselves, anith the
law laying this additional tax shou d not be
repealed until the whole debt was cancelled.
And this tax, moreover, was over and above
the one raised to meet their annual expenses.
Here WAS an example Tor Rho le lsani 10 fol.
low.
Mr.. G. said that one Of the gentlemen who
represented the town OF Cranston last year,
(Mr. Benoni Halrs) and who made by The
way. the best speech, in about three minutes,
that he ever heard made in This House, ans
wered tiumphantly the talk about the farmers
not being able to pay tax upon the proiuc
tveness OF their property. That gentleman
said, and saii truly, that the whole tax OF
some OF those poor farmers could be paid
by head or two of cabbage and he (Mr.
c. believed it.
Mr.. C.. thought that the honor OF the
State reouired that n tax should be raised, and