The Nashville daily union. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1862-1866, 1865-09-07
Tennessee Tax Laws,
From tina Memphis Bulletin.

]
the dark snd sluggish waters ifthe my
terious Nile, and Cairo and Alexandri
soon became the empOriums and capita
ists Of the world The silver waters c
| tae Persian Gulf reeeiEed the rich bul
den FROM the Nile, and reared BabyIo
with its mighty walls on the Euphrate
and Nineveh with its famous hangin
gardens on the Tigris. Thence it pass
ed along the eastern margin of tn
Mediterranean, leaving in its track
chain of cities the most powerful an,
opulent the world ever saw-such a
Jerusalem, the beautiful and sacre,
| city Of the mountains Palmyra, tn
/ queen of the desert; Thebes, with he
hundred gates; Memphis, with he
great and magnificent water-works
and Heliopolis, the beautiful city o
the sun. Here this tide of wealth and
enterprise was not content to stop, bu
poured on across the lagoones Of the
Adriatic, building Genoa and Venice
It's way until it reached the ZuydeI
Zee and the Rhine, where it made the
desolate and half submerged loWlands
of Germany blossom as the rose.
These are the lessons history teaches
of the benificent and salutsry results oil
free and unrestricted trade upon na.
tional growth and prosperity; and they
are worthy the consideration of our
law makers about this time, and espe-
cially of the sapient legislators Of this
State. Bagdad, Tyre and Sidon in the
East, nor Hamburg, Amsterdam and
London in the West, would never have
been built, or at least, would never
have attained to half their growth and
prosperity, if there had been auy re-
strietion upon their commerce and
trade. The Pharaohs of Egypt and the
Caliphs OF Persia, although not enjoy
ing the lig' s and blessings of modern
civilization, had wisdom enough in
their executive policy not to make
laws discriminating in favor of any
branch Of trade more than anoth-
er The old heathens knew that
oppression Of trade would inevita-
bly, drive capital and enterprise
from the country, and therefore, in a
direct ratio, diminish the value of every
kind Of property. They, heathen-like,
and not having q stupid faction to die
tate, or a corrupt cabal to direct, knew
that their yeOmsnTy, their toiling mil
lions, would have to buy and sell at a
disadvantage, In exchanging the pro-
duets of their labor for those of a
neighboring State, in which more
liberal policy prevailed, if the mer-
chants having the articles Of necessity
for sale had 10 pay most enormous
and unnecessary tax for the privilege
Of selling articles of foreign importa,
ton. Ignorant like, they saw that the
producer, the laborer, in other words,
would have TO sell at the depressed
home valuation all articles be made,
and buy such articles as were not pro
duced in his own State, at o CORES
ponding enhanced valuation, arising
from more liberal diffusion Of means
and facilities of trade in other States.
These immutable principles of indus
trial and commercial prosperity, under
stood and practiced thousands of years
ago, apply with telling force to the ex-
isting tax system of Tennessee, as com
pared with that of her surrounding sis
ter States. Under the spacious plea Of
relieving the masses of the people, the
great producing classes, from the bur
dens of taxation, our most sapient and
enlightened legislature have passed
a law known as the Tax Law, which
burthens and oppresses trade 20 de
gree embarrassing and prejudIcial to
all classes Of the community. In other
words, the Tennessee merchant is taxed
two dollars in the hundred dollars,
State tax, TO say nothing Of city and
county tax, net upon the amount Of cap
ital alone, but upon the investments Of
both his capital and credit. Now, if
he is thrifty, and sells his. goods al
most as fast Gs ne purchases them,
or what is understood as turning his
money over by repeated purchases and
sales, he has the two dollars to pay
every time he lays in his new stock, and
thus the tax is not only doubled, but
in many instances quadrupled, making
it from four to ten dollars upon the
hundred. Then, again, the country
merchant has the same tax to paw on
his purchases from the already over
taxed wholesale merchant in Memphis
Nashville, and the other cities of the
State doing wholesale business. The
operations Of this law reminds US of
the tax laws Of the tenth and tWenti-
eth penny levied by the Duke of Alva
upon the Netherlands during the time
of the revolt of those provinces from
the yoke Of Spain, and which did more
for the rebellion than all the tact and
military genius of the Prince Of Orange,
combined
Here "a the operation Of the law, in
a nut she'll The wholesale dealer, or
iobber, purchases his goods in New
York, brings them to this city, and Of.
fers them for sale, and pays two dollars
tax upon their cost valuation, he sells
them to the country merchant, who
pays another two dollars per hundred
on the price he has to pay for them,
and the smaller retailer or pedler has
to pay the same before he can offer
them TO his customers In the end
these frequent re-assessments will
amount to more than the legal inter
est on the original amount Of capital
employed This Is very wise legislation,
indeed, very likely 20 benefit the State
through the complete ruin Of the com
merce and trade of her most fOurishing
cities The people, Of oour8e, have II
to pay in the end, aud as little az
they may think Of it now, tsey are
actually paying into the Golfers Of the
State, through .he operation Of this
system Of progressive re-assessment,
from ten to fifteen per cent. upon the
amount Of money they expend Tor such
articles IS they are compelled TO buy
from the dry goods merchant Is such
a system for the public interest Is it
for the public good We viii let an
intelligent public decide I.-
The tax on land and other imperish-
able property is not more than one
twentieth ss much, so the merchant has
10 nav COO to 100 per cent more than
the owner Of real estate, houses, etc. Is
this lust is il right or in accordance
with the true principles OF a sound po-
liticaI economy 2 We think not, and
believe the people, who are the real
sufferers in the end, win demand that
such odious and unjust laws shall be
speedily repealed after the meeting
of the next legislature. We shall
wait in confidence the result
Gr Ewr1L-A dispatch from Wash
ington, Of the 4th inst, says;
The rebel General Esell, is living
ouite secluded at second class hotel
here patiently awaiting pardon. On