The Tipton advertiser. [volume] (Tipton, Cedar Co., Iowa) 1856-1962, 1862-01-23

of revenue due to the State, until the
entire sum for each year is paid, whether
the County Trcasurcrs have received the
entire amount of State tax or not. At
presen; the State is wholly hopeless as to
its revenue. 1t has to depend wholly
upon the officer of counties for its col,
lection and transmission, and if the coun-
ty officers are Inefficient, the State is
remcdicss. Mach county is now liable
by law to the State for the amount of
State tax assessed in it, but this liability.
without any means Of making it practical
| bly, effective, is useless. If the counties
were required to pay the revenue due the
State, whether collected or not, the coun-
! ty Supervisors would be stimulated to
| require Of the Treasurer a strict perform
ancc of his duties =, and If, in addition,
you should SO change the present kw as
to give county Treasurcrs, in lieu Of sal,
ary, per centum on the amount Of mon
cy collected and dishursed, or provide for
township collectors. to be paid in the
same way, our taxes would, IN my opn-
! ion. be more punctua|ly paid
/ also recommend that i, be made the
duty of the Board OF Supervisors Of each
county to employ competent accountant
! once In each year to examine the ac
counts of each county officer. and state
an account between each officer and his
county, and between. officer aud officer
and also that County Treasurers and all
other persons who receive public monies
be prohibited, under severe penalties,
from using them in any way or p lacinc
them with others t. be used for their
private benefit.
The law Of Congress imposing a direct
tax for the support "f the General Gov
ernmcnt gives to any State the privilege
upon its people, and allows such State to
retain fifteen per cent. Of the amount, on
condition the State sI.rll assume the pay
ment of the balance Of the tax There
upon arises the important qicstinn -
What shall the State do in it's premises :?
1t must be remembered that if the State
assumes the tax the entire amount less
fifteen per cent. must be paid by the
State, whether the State collects the tax
or not. Keeping ills in recollection, let
us ascertain as n"aI as may be cur pre-
else position. This State has expended
for the General Government about $50,
600, and has been repaid the sum of
$4,000 The State has sold her bonds
to the amount of about S20O,000 The
proceeds Of said sale S1S4,00, and the
$50 900 received from the General Gov
ernmcnt, have been applied to paying
the expenses incurred by the State, leav-
ing unpaid and due wholly. | believe, to
our own people, about SlSG,000, for
which they hold or can receive warrants
drawn on the War aud Defense Fund -
It the amount expended by the State,
which is to be reimbursed by the Gen
eral Government, be $3.50 600. there is
| now due the State 1870. 900, and if the
Federal tax should be $3.50 900. and the
State should assume it, there ould be
due the General Government the sum of
1892, 800, being the entire amount of the
tax, less the amount now due the State,
and the fifteen per cent. for assumption
and collection which must be assessed
upon and paid by our people
But we must provide also for the pay
ment Of the amount due our own citizens.
This must be done by assessing the
amount as tax, and by either actually
collecting the money and paying 1t to the
holders of the warrants or by authorizing
those holding warrants to surrender them
to the Auditor aud receive in lieu Of
them other warrants Of the amount of S.
! each which shall be receivable in pay
ment of the Federal lax. These var
rants being Of small amounts, and being
all receivable during the present wear
for taxes, won:1 be nearly or quite at par
and would be much more valuable to the
holders than the present ones Should
this course be deemed advisable, it will
be necessary, in order to lnert the de
mand made upon Us by the Federal Gov.
ernment, to levy a tax of about &3G>.
500, of which s l>2. 500 must BE- collcctcd
in money, aud siS6,0G0 may be paid in
the warrants outstanding against the
War and Defense Fund Our State debt
will have been increased hy 500, 900.
and we will not have any money in our
Treasury whercwith to meet further
military expenses, should they be nrces-
sary. 1t will B, observed that the
sums given are generally estimated
Absolute precision could not in some
cases be arrived at, bu, it will be found
the estimates approximate vory nearly
the truth. If this should not be deemed
advisable We can present our claim against
the General Government, receive the
amount due the State, pay the outstani-
ing warrants in the hands of the people,
and either collect in money the Federal
Tax and pay it to the General Govern.
mcnt, retaininc the l. per cent for SO
doing. or allow the General Government
to collect the whole without intcrferprcr
on our part. In view Of the actual con
ditlon Of our affairs and the want of
pronptitude with which our taxes are
paid, am inclined to favor the plan first
recommended. If | had assurance that
taxes would be paid as they should be,
would much prefer the second.
Intimately y connected with the subject
Of taxation and revenue is the question
as to the kind of money that shall be re
ccived for taxes. Under our present laws.
specie only is receivable for public dues.
In view Of the recent suspension Of
specie payments by the General Grow,
ernment and the banks Of the Eastern
States, it becomes aqucstion of great i'm
portance whether we can collect our revc-
nue. in coin do not believe we can,
and | urgently recommend to you such