Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1868-02-24
Taxation Wrongs inflicted by ths
City and state.


paper Of their customers, much more Ill
eral should be the conduct Of govern
monts toward their subjects. And whe
we reflect that the State or corporatio
never dies, aud its lien is never loosenct
and no creditor can have precedence,
becomes more apparent that govern
ment should be the most generous Q
creditors. II should not be forgotten
that the claim Of the government is pro
tected by indestructible security. Will
there is earth, air and water, the State
or city's claim is perfectly secure, an,
extensions of debts constantly augmen
the revenues Of tax. gatherers. The yer,
interminable existence of the State o.
corporation renders any postponemen
of the time Of payment matter of LITTLE
significance. Sums unpaid to-day grow
in magnitude, and the time Of settlement
must come on some unfxed tomorrow
The great mass of Subjects pay their dues
as they accrue, and delinquent tax
payers of this year pay a double sum
when accounts are finally adjusted.
Through series of years the number OF
delinquents for each are about the same,
and since there are no final losses the
State gains usury instead of sustaining
detriment because of delays on the part
of its debtors.
1t thus happens that the hardness Of
statutory methods of collecting taxes
works no loss to the State, and results in
infinite good to the people. 1t is not
the policy of law-givers to impoverish
the people. On the contrary, each in.
dividual bankruptcy is public calam-
ity. Losses to which an individual citi-
zen is subjected by q forced sale Of his
property are shared by the public. The
sacrifice of an unfortunate citizens
homestead may add to the wealth of a
speculator, while the beggared outcast is
'bereft of those inducements to active ex.
ertion which cumulative public burdens
often excite. The State grows rich
through those citizens whose energies
create individual wealth, while commu-
mites are impoverished when individuals
are reduced to want. 1t, therefore,
becomes the true policy of any govern
ment to act the part of most generous
creditor. 1t is always secure. There is
no possibility of ultimate loss. The
longer the debt remains unpaid, the
greater the sum the State or corporation
must ultimately receive. The more
grievous are the commercial and fnan.
cial calamities, and the greater the
number of these who.cannot pay to-day,
the greater will be public revenues of
tomorrow.
OF course there must be limit to the
extensions of individual indebtedness to
a State or city. Meanwhile courts every
where have recognized the fact that laws
designed to enforce the collection of
public revenues should be, in behalf of |
tax payers, most literally construed. So
true is this, that legislative
genius has found it quite difficult to
define a code of tax laws by which an
owner Of real property may be deprived
of his title because of delinquences as q
In fact, the current Of judi
cial dicta is now so liberalized as to be
almost equivalent to the declaration that
it is better the State should lose just
debt of small amount than that any SER
want of the State should be reduced to
penury.
Therefore most local governments have |
resorted to many devices to avoid the |
necessity for the sale Of property for
taxes. Just now, when commercial ca
lamities are weightier than ever known |
before, change in the former liberal
policy of the tax.collecting power would
be especially disastrous. If a reform be |
indispensable to public welfare, let the |
change of local and State codes be made |
when the country is more prosperous
and when the people are capable of en- |
memorable governmental ex-
actions, For this reason many deem
recent proposed changes in the tax
codes of this city ill.timed. Never we're
burdens Of our many shapes of govern
ment, Federal, State, county, city, school
and police, so burdensome, so enormouS
and never we're the people so poor, Let |
us not grow ravenous, those OF US who |
are in Office, and let us not forget how |
multifarious have been causes for fail /
ures to pay. The great mass Of people |
are honest, and the frat Of all debts
extinguished, by the poor especially, is
the debt held by the tax.gatherer. The
failure Of two or three rich men, SO called,
to extinguish their liabilities to the city
government has begotten a sort Of popu.
lar frenzy especially developed in the
Board of Aldermen. There is not want
ing degree of absolute ferociiy in that
proposed measure by which ten per cent.
per month is added 10 the amount Of the
defaulting taxpayers debt, and there is
degree OF absolute sayagery in the
definition of the Sheriff's duties. Money
lenders of the country, aud Shylocks of
the town will gather like carrion birds at