Semi-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1853-18??, 1859-03-16

the ouestioo ysry naturally asisss ean the 0snssal
Assembly, under he present cuostitusioo. equslss
taxasion upon all ths citizens nd property IN Tie
State? ftaxation can Be equali,ed usdss shs pss..-
ent constitution. Why has q not been dooeY ""
cannot be equali1ed under The present coosseusisA
ought not tie constitution 70 b sltesedf hepe
some Senator viii answer thsss questions 60.
But Mr.. Speaker, the dsfsct 10 our ssvsnqe sys-
tenn d attributable to The restriction upon ~ Ga
ersl Assembly, embraced in The article q he 60
saitusioo which The bill under eoatdss1stea pSope
ses to amend; and the evil can never b rs@edisd
nor taxation equalised until The coos6setn = o.
tered ed
TIE public debt must b paid sishss By post;sa.
only, o. the whole Of the dtissoa and peoPssy q
the State A the debs was Incurred ~ he bsnsdt
Of all Justice demands that al should contribute %
the payment Of l. But Il L must b psh By . ~
ton only Of The citizens and property IN whose f.
vor should the discrimination be msdes II any de.
elimination be made. should Il not b In iAvos a
u % who have derived least benefit Don he public
debt, And should not those Who have been ~sas
benefited, pay most Of the debs of the Ssasef
II the public debt must Be paid under The pssesnt
revenue laws the great bufthcn Of TAXATION viIl
doubtless rest upon The shoulders a those Who sss
least able to bear Il and who have derived lsast ben
eft from the expenditure Of the public mooey. Some
Senator will ask. who hes been most benefited By
mourning the public debtl There can b bot one
SSwSs W 0saS ~ ts~S ~ sssss W. NV
owners Of the State being tho larst producers and
consumers have unquessioaably derived The greatest
benefits from our internal improvcmcntS On aceoant
Of which the public debt has been usde Boz tie
slaveowncrs Of the State have not only bsse moss
benefited by our internal improvementS - he lAs
gcst producers and consumer but the works a In
ternal Improvement have been mainly Constructed
by slave labor, and consequently very lsrRs sun
Of the public money has gone directly into the hands
Of slavc-owucrs Il +. therefore. hcs which ON.
not be successfully coorovertcd that the owners Of
slaves have been both directly and indirectly moes
benefited than any other class Of property holaes
in the State. II slavcowncrs have becn more bone
fitted than any other class Of property .holdrss I
presume every fair minded man win sdmis that they
cc at least IN the proportion which The slavepsop
sriy Tears to tho Aggregate amount opropsy In The
State. But will they pay their just psopossioo Of
the public debt under our present rvvsnue system
According to the most reliable information On that
subject there arc in this State Ssss7e slaves worth
at an average value Of $500 each about ooe hundred
and eighty millions Of dollars. or this number o.
ly 150, DPS arc taxed The amount a TAXATION UPON
this one hundred and eighty milloas Of doll.ss IN
Thus Il will be scrn, Mr. Speaker. that although
slaves constitute at least um oucthisd to ooe half
Of the aggregate amount Of property IN value inShs
State, Il pays into the public treasury. under the
present system, lcss than oncsevcnth Of the public
revenue. Whereas, Il ought to pay an amount
equal to the proportion which Il hears to the asxyr
gate property Of the State which would be from ooe
third to one-haf Of the aggregate amount Of rcve.ue
raised on property. But in order that the neqush.
ty and injustice Of our revenue laws may APPEAR In
more elaring light Let pursue this Investigation
. little further, and repeat the difference In the
amount Of tax paid on . thousand dollars worth Of
land and . thousand dollars In si,ve property, Zoe
State and county purposes The average tsx
throughout the State on hundrri dollars worth a
land Tor State and county purpores h - cents. and
the average tax on black rol at an average value d
each Tor State and county purposes Il about ooe
dollar and twenty CENTS from which Il appears that
While $1,000 in land pays ~ so. 1900 In slaves
pays only g 40, notwithstanding slsveowuesx have
derived more benefit from the public debt than any
other class Of property holders.
think, Mr. Speaker, that have shown cuoeju.
s'vcy that the present revenue system dsciminsiss
very unustly in favor Of the owners Of slave prspss.
" and against the owners Of every other species of
property in the State and that all 10 not contribute
their just proportion to the support Of the govern
mcnt and the payment Of the public debt.
II justice demands that all should contribute 10
the support Of the government and the payment Of
the public debt In proportion to the protection eu.
Joycd and the benefits received and the General A.
semby has no power under the present constitution
to equalizc taxation on property. without doing
gross injustice to her citizens ought not this b; to
pass the restriction Be removed and the povvr civ.
en- to the Legislature to cquslisc tsxaiioos
But while the principle Of equality In TAXATION b
admitted to be correct, BY nearly o. quite svs,y
member Of the General Assembly, they rrf,,e 10
adopt the only means BY which Il can :,c attained.
and, As reason for refusing to vote eur this b;Ii
which would accomplish L. raise various olSecs;oos
to altering the constitution, which win nov pro
coed 10 state and examine.
The first objection X. that the people are satisfied
with the constitution ~ u h and therefore u ousAs
not to be altered
The objection wears some FEASIBILITY on Ia kes.
to casual observer bot stIicssr scsuiiay vsli is.
cover the sclishncss which lies concealed bshiod h
Il Is true, there has been no general movement IN
favor Of the alteration proposed becanss. until r.
Gently, there has been IVORY urxvns necessity 81
il in view Of the financial eooii;ioo of ihs State.
In 1885. when this Innovation and d;scs;minss;oa
were engraed upon the constitution tho entire nv.
enuc Of the State was los than sy.dvs theu.
sand dollars At that time The amount q sax which
the people were called upon 10 pay wss % iacpasd
cradle a. to be entirely disrcEzfdsd BY then. And
Il was matter Of but slight importance. In peeu-
mary point Of view, whether The ssvsnue vss col.
lccsed from all O. only portion q The eisissas and
and there was no apparent necessity tus cootrscsng
debt
Under these circumstances the convention q 1885
incorporated into the constitution The restSjetioa
upon the General Assembly, and, q - . pscsssasy
result the discrimination against very large ma
jority and In hvoe Of vsry small minority II he
people Of the State which thus ball proposes 10 strike
out Il was placed in the constitution With bot
very little n any discussion. either bcfhep the COZ
vention, at the convention, o. prior to the s.iis
ton Of the amended constitution. % ar @ have
been able to learn from The debates and Journals q