Weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1858-1865, 1859-12-14

widely we may differ as to the sources and the
manner from and in which the necessary revenue
for that object can be best and most easily raised.
1t is not our object to advance any one man, or
set of men; nor will our appreciation OF the patr
otism and integrity of any man be affected or d's
turbed, should he honestly entertain opinions con-
trary to our own. We do not wish to see this re-
form in the financial policy of the State-absolutely
necessary We believe to the States prosperity and
advancement-mixed up in any way with party poll
ties or discussed with the excitement and feeling
that partizan measures usually are
Our sole aim is and or constant'eftort shall De,
until the end is accomplished disconnected with all
other conSideratons-a REFORM IN THE REVENUE
system of our State. The details of this reform
we leave to those whose wisdom and experience
will doubt give satisfaction to all as soon as the
people, in their sovereignty shall determine that
reform shall be made And in this effort, we beg
the honest cooperation of every one, we care not
to what party or section he belongs, who enteralns
in re gard to the necessity Of the change, the same
views with ourselves. We ask the advocates OF the
existing system to think seriously OF its principles,
to discuss its merits and above all, to treat 1t IN
their Investigations as subject OF paramount IN
portance And in the general discussion of the
merits of this subject, which we hope will be had
among our people, if that which we believe to be
practicable, and just and urgently called Tor by our
present state of affairs should be shown to us to be
either impractcabe, unjust insufficient and 9TH
er remedies for exist ,g evils offered the better to
attain what we so earnestly DESIRE We cheerfully
promise to adopt the suggestions proposed for that
end We are not so welded to any particular poll
CIV in reforming our present system as to hazard the
reform itself by adherng pertinaciousy to any one
measure or plan, however much we may be con-
WINGED at this time of the business of our own views
in relation thereto.
history of our revenue system, bare as it is in
its details of interest, until the year ls47, conclu-
siyey to our minds proves this fct That the aggre-
gate amount of taxes collected each year, and which
we're amply sufficient for the administration of our
government was so slnal! that but little interest
was felt in the subject of taxation by those who had
the taxes to paw and but little attention bestowed
BY our legislators as to the source from which the
revenue necessary to defiay the expenses OF the
government was to be raised The rates on the
300. worth of land to wit: 6 cents and 30 cents
on the poll remained unaerrd for oyer thirty years,
and was not increased until the year 1851 From
the statements made by the Comptrollers, We see
that in the year 1922 the aggregate revenue paid by
the SherlffS int the treasury omtng factions)
1888 /; of which real estate paid SIS, 1885, polls,
$25.4l1; leaving Slc,292 TO be paid by all other
taxable subjects Wake paid into the treasury in
1929, the sum of $2,293. In 1885, the year the
old constitution Of 1916 amended in convention,
and the restriction unknown to that first consttu-
ton was placed upon the General Assembly in re-
gard to poll tax, the aggregate OF revenue paid 10y
the SheriffS into the treasury was $13,9sO; rel
estate paying s24,S46; polls, $2S0l6; leaving
$2l, l1S to be paid by Other subjects. Wake in
1885, paid S2,457. In lS47, from which time
new era may be said to have commenced in our f.
nancia history, controlled hy policy totally differ
ent from that governing our legislators previous
thereto, there was paid into the treasury by the
Sherits, und r the tax bill of 1916, the sum Of
$93n26; real estate paying 1912 polls s34,62
leaving 800. 49, to be paid by other subjects In
this year. Wake paid 5000 into the treasury
Since 1s47. under this order of things, our leg
i>latorS at every session have been driven to m my
expedients and have spent no little time and discus
sion in adjusting the different tax bills to The in
creasing demands of the treasury. In 1858 the
amount of revenue paid by the SheritfS into the
treasury was $5o2 6l2 real estate paying $l46 l5o
free polls $50, 5SS; black polls S75,462; leaving
$24S3SS to be collected fr I'M other sources In
this year Wake paid S21,t52. Tn 1859 the aggre-
gate revenue paid by the Sheriffs under the tax bill
of 1857 was $607,sl3 No details have as yet
been published. In 1859 Wake pays S25004. In
the foregoing statement the tax paid on bank stock,
and those derived from few other sources amount
ing to little, have not been included. From the
foregoing figures it is that from 1922 to lS47,
in the aggregate amount of revenue paid to the
State; and that increase is accounted for by the
natural increase in the number of taxable polls and
chiefly from the increased value of lands under the
various assessments made after the year 1886.
In the few material changes that have been intro
ducei in our revenue system since the year 1884 it
is fact worthy of notice. that all such alterations
have been made so far possible to conform to an
dd ralorem principle And We have been unable to
EpI hat 10 rt,J
in the amended Constitution of 1885, 50 materially
altering that of 177G. (Which has been STYLED by
some as " incomp",mhiy ereellent" and in this par.
ticuar at least We think justly So elected any dis
cnSsion or comment prior to Its passage This cir
cumstance, and the passage of this restriction the
General Assembly in regard to capitation tax through
the Convention of 1885, in silence precludes any
idea of its being considered matter of even second
airy importance, or of its having been one of those
changes IN our organic law demanded by the people
at that particular time even if the small amounts
of revenue annually collected as above shown did
not satisfactorily do And, further, if that par
ticular species of property owned by our citizens
needed, in 1885, or before, the peculiar protection
given it, it is unacconntably strange that the amen
ded Constitution should have been voted against by
every County in the State largely interested in slave
property. The truth is, the Convention of 1886
met for other purposes; and those purposes had al
most necessarily occupied public attention for years
before the Convention assembled. And when the
Convention did assemble, the changes in our organic
law, which had been fully canvassed before the PEG
pie, wee again patiently investigated and elaborate
ly discussed by delegates remarkably distinguished
for ability, integrity and learning Yet, with al
their learning and experience it was beyond thei,
ken to toresee the many and great changes that wer
to take place within the twenty years immedatel,
to follow. If any one had announced to that body
that the public debt of North Carolina in 1858, in
CURED in developing part of the States wealth
and in enabling us to keep pace with the progress
OF those around us, would be over seren millions
dollars and that in 1859, $65O,OOO would be requr
ed to uphold the credit Of the State-to men of thos
days and to us we hope, "incomparably" dear,-th,
speaker would have been considered by every one
IN and out OF that body, crazy beyond redemption
Such announcement would have been true, however
and the debt must still increase if the plighted aitl
oil the State to be reverenced as it ever should be
and as it always has heretofore BEEN
The taxes of Wake County have increased owe
900 per cent since 1885, and over 700 per cent
since ls47. The amounts paid in 1s47 were literal
| and h,t1 40 Al