Weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1858-1865, 1860-01-25

Union NV Cuthbertson," lilo 96
Washington " Jos. Ramsey, act, !" 57S 20
Wilkes " A. A. Scroggs, " 1897 o.
Wilson I. D. Farmer, " 735 45
(To BE CONTINUED,
For the Standard.
AID VALOREM TAXATION.
No. 5.
Mr. IIoLpEN:-In the Address of the Wake Coun-
ty Working Mems Association, which, in the opinion
of the Salisbury Banner "evinces but shallow view
into the great science of political economy" as an
illustration of the oppressive injustice of our present
tax system, occurs among many others, the follow
ing paragraph:
again Under our peculiar system and it is,
without precedent peculiar in many respects there
was paid into the State Treasury the sum of 1873
by portion of the labor and industry of our citi
zens. This tax the energy enterprise and brains
of the community, which should receive in its de-
velopment the fostering care and protection of
lawmakers so far as possible amounts to about
sirth of the sum paid, as we have shown, by S24S-
567, 800 worth of one species of property. We are
satisfied that this distinctive feature in revenue
system is so unustly oppressive, so utterly subver
sve of every reasonable and established principle of
political economy, and so openly at war with the.
best interests of State that it requires Illus
traton in detail to convince you that reform at
least in this respect is imperatvey demanded. STILL
that you may more forcbly comprehend its unjust
ness and inequality, let US for moment look to its
operation Every citizen except ministers of the
Gospel and our Judges, (and why exempt the latter,
when all other State officers are taxed y whose an
nual income from their labor is over $780, paid as
tax per cent. on their respective receipts. The
clerk, the DOCTOR the mechanic the lawyer, the
overseer your county officers, every one, though by
untiring industry and stinting economy they may
be barely able to support their families paid into
the Treasury of the State 81 upon every 800 re-
ceived The foreman in the workshop, if in the re-
ceipt of $500 as wages, paid besides his poll tax,
s. to the sheriff; while his neighbor owning ten
slave mechanics at work in the same shop at the
yearly wages Of 81 500 mere, paid to the sheriff
only IS and his poll tax. The overseer, with 90
hands under him, making for his employer 100 bags
of cotton worth So 900, if receiving $780, paid Sc,
and the employer, for that which produced him
81, 1000 paid $40. The employees of our different
Railroad Companies each pay per cent on their
receipts, if they amount to $500; the individual
stockholders, though they may receive 6 or per,
cent their investments, amounting in the aggre-
gate to large sum, pay, with few exceptions moth
ing. The clerk, in the receipt of 800 per annu'n,
paid 81 to the State his employer, with 100000
of State bonds in his safe, yielding him $4,000 per
annum, paid nothing These illustrations might be
indefinitely multiplied In 1884, our Executive, in
his message to the General Assembly, reviewing
revenue system, remarks thus upon the inequality
then existing :-"The poll tax on the day laborer
and the capitalist is precisely the same; and it some
times happens that the latter, like the former is
subject to other species of contribution In the
case it is oncrous imposition; in the other,
tax thousand fold greater mi ht occasion senS
BILE Inconvenience If 1884 reason existed for
complaining against the inequality of the system,
how much more have we to complain of now, when
the poll tax though much increased is but drop
in the bucket, compared to tina! assessed ON our
labor"
The Banner, in its attempt to show what the facts
and figures of the address WORTH selects from
the above one example, and thus comments:
In the Address We find it in the STANDARD,
1--WE have not yet received copy of the palnphet)
the following case is put THE o-crseer, with 90
hands under him, making for his employer 100 bags
of cotton, worth $1,000, if receiving 5000, paid ST.
and the employer for that which produced him So,
900, paid $40 Now this statement of the case is
neither full nor fair, and what is more, without IN
tending to be offensive, it is not true. 1t is not full
because it omits the important fact that the en-
plOyer has hids as well as slaves employed in max
ing the 100 bags of cotton and upon which he pays
tax it is not fair, because the gross income of
the employer is given, while that of the overseer is
nett 1T is not true, because the employer in fact
pays more than $40 tax upon the negroes alone, be-
sides tax on the land with which he makes this
100 bags of cotton.
Now we will undertake to give statement Of the
case, which we submit to the judsm of all prac-
teal men as the true one.
We assert then, as fact that nine out of ten of
the plantations in North Carolina, upon which 100
bags OF cotton can be raised will sell in market for
$1,000 Besides this mules horses hogs CATTLE
Turning TOOLS all required to carry the opera
l. tons Of farming, and they all cos: money. Mules
and horses must be fed, negroes must be fed, and
clothed doctors, bachsmiths, carpenters, pillow ma
kcrs and members must all be paid too out Of this
| $4,000. tax is paid both upon the land and the
/ poll, to the county well as the State and rather
more to the former than the latter-ior it is as ne
ccssary to support the county the State govern
ment. The case simply and truly stated is as fol
| lows:
20 negroes pay a poll tax to the State of $40
! The same negroes pay an average county tax Of -
| $4,000 worth of land pays State tax of 90
The same land pays an average county tax of 25
Total, CT
Sixty-seven dollars, then, is the tax which the en-
ployer must pay upon the property with which the
100 bags of cotton made; and must be paid too
out of this income of 5000, just as the overseer
pays Sc out of his income of 5000 But this is not
the only deduction to which this IS 900 income is
to be subjected. Wenake another estimate for the
authors of the Address.
The expenses of the farm must be deducted, and
these estimate follows again appealing to the
judgment of practical men to sustain us.
Total receipts by employer from cotton
crop, $4,000
He pays overseer's wages, S 600
Feeding and clothing 30 hands, at
$40 each, 1400
Wear and tear of mules, horses, wag-
ons, &c, &C., 500