Daily union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1865-1866, 1866-02-10

The present laws Of Tennessee impose
tax of two per cent on theinvoice cost Of al
merchandise brought into this State for re
sale. The law has been in force long enough
to prove that II is inimical to our Commercial
prosperity and to the interests Of our people
So long as the adyentitous circumstances o
war controlled the events and channels @
trade, IFS deleterious effects were not 81
visible; but now that trade is unrestricted
throughout the State and is free between thi.
and the other States, the bad effects of thi,
onerous tax are palpaple to the most casual
observer. Thoughts operation the merchant.
OF Tennessee are placed at very great
disadvantage.
The retail merchant il compelled TO add
the tax TO his prices and the consumers pay
At. The consumer cannot 60 10 either the
Eastern or Western cities outside of the
State for his yearly supply of goods to meet
the wants Of his family. If the tax were
increased to five per cent the same would
be the case--and he, instead of the mer-
chant would still pay it. While this is the
case with the retail merchant, this tax prac-
Ideally obliterates the business of the whole
sale dealer, so far as transactions outside Of
the State are concerned. The merchants
south Of thus pass through cur State to reach
markets further North and more favorable.
This fact may be thus illustrated: Ken
lucky imposes tax in this respect of one
quarter of one per cent. A Louisville and
Nashville jobber go together to the Eastern
markets, and get precisely the same stock at
the same prices. On their return to their
homes, by reason of this one item of tax
alone, the Louisville merchant is enabled to
undersell the one from Nashville by one and
three quarters per cent. II, then, which We
learn Is the. case at the present time, by
through schedule of freights, the Transporter
ton is made the same between Louisville
and the interior commercial centres South
Of as from Nashville, nobody will stop in
our State 10 purchase their goods. The
trade which goes to the Tennessee iobber is
thus restricted to the Tennessee retailer-for'
the tax once paid to the State is not to be
paid, under the the law, second time. We
mention Nashville simply as an illustration,
as the same truth applies with equal force to
every city in the State.
Under this system ii will be seen that in
stead Of building up Tennessee interests, our
money is taken to other cities and commu-
mites, and contributes to build up their
wealth and prosperity. If by judicious
and wise system of legislation all this corld
be kept at home, the results would be hap
PLY manifest at once, and shortly become
the chiefpower in the development of other
and still greater interests Every dollar
saved and every dollar made by any citizen
of Tennessee is so much added to the positive
wealth of the State. II the home merchant
makes dollar on the sale of bolt of calico,
and the consumer saves dollar by buying
it at home, two dollars are added to the gen.
eral capital. And in this matter the buyer
and the seller are mutually interested, and
the benefits are mutually shared.
But it is said that the State must have
money to pay the just demands against it.
true. This fact doesnot touch the
except to strengthen it. By the
present tax, the amount is not only paid, but
the means Of paying are reduced. Business
which would yield much of this needed rev.
enue, is kept down or transferred to other
States-and while cur means are constantly
going beyond our limits to bring to us our
necessary supplies, we are rendered poorer
and less able to pay. This system of deple-
ton carried on for series of years will in
evitably result in driving from our borders
the business talent and energy of the State,
and leave US with an impoverished popula-
lion and still more burdensome taxation.
The bill of Mr.. Bosom, introduced into
The Senate on Thursday, reducing the tax
hnder consideration to one per cent, is a step
in the right direction; but Il does not 90 far
saoHgh 1t must come down to the tax of Ken
lucky or Ohio--one-fourth and three-eighths
Of one per cent respectively-or at least to
what il was before the war, which was one
hall of one per cent If not, then the advan-
tages of trade remain with those States. To
render the point we seek TO make still more
plain: Suppose that New York and Pennsyl-
sania possessed the power respectively to
iK the tariff on their imports from foreign
one should adopt tariff ten
per cent. higher than the other-while the
internal trade between the two remained
free--is it not plain that the entire
commerce of both States would be carried
through the ports of the State having the
lower duties? This was precisely the case
between Virginia and Maryland before the
of the present Union, and was
one of the prime intermediate causes which |
ed TO the creation of the Union. This is |
he same principle involved between Ten |
lessee and the States next North of us-and |
he tax on merchandise is precisely in the |
anne nature of duty on imports.