The Athens post. [volume] (Athens, Tenn.) 1848-1917, 1869-12-24

N"' W ''NNhf. tAhAi 'AtaNNf ANN A"'N ~hN'
rule OF taxation upon merchants.
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10 the House of Representatives Of the Ten.
j, ne-see Legislature;
The undersigned members of said
committee beg ltavc to recommend the
rejection OF said blll, When carefully
considered aud It's results calculated. Il
Z will be found TO be an artihlly worded
proposition 10 traHsicr almost the on-
tire taxation, now laid nbon merchants,
10 the farmers OF the State. This view
tof the scope and design of the bin is
capable OF easy lgmonsieatIo by sral-
fculhtion readily made frpn the tables
Of the Comptroller's Report
( II appears from the tables al page 90
OF said report that the amount of reve-
nue derived from the class of persons
defined IN thc bill as "mercliautS.' for
the years 1868 and 1859, was S639.ji3,55
subject to trifing deduction for
I the privilege tax ON auctoneers which
is not separate in thc Comptroller's rc-
port This sum OF SG39, ,5i3h5. is the
amount realized from tax ot Que and
OF all the merchandise sold by the mer-
chants during The year, The bin under
consideration proposes to tax lnerchan-
: disc As prOpcrty--not the amount either
bought or sold, bat the average maxi
mnm amount kept on hand To be ascer-
tninea by annual reports. All that the
merchant has sold during the month is
not reported or taxed, We viii show
hereafter under the seventh section of
the bill, the merchant will not pay any
taN on from three-ioUrthS to nine-tenths
OF his goods But in order TO reach Il
correct result we viii show By cal.
culation what he would pay, il he were
10 report anG he taxed n property tax
upon all of his purchases. Ii the bill
proposed to tax all the goods bought
during the year. the merchant would
have to pay the State tax on property, or
forty ceutS on the hundred dollars. The
amount TO be realized would bear the
same proportion to SG39,5i3,5J that for
ty cents does TO Sl5D, aud the result
would be Sl7O.5lia5. A reduction Of
the enormous sum OF. SiG9 9.y9S95. But
the bill does not propose that the mcr-
chant shall pay even the forty cents per
hundred dollars on his purchases BY
the wording of section seven of the bill,
some merchants will pay tax on q fourth,
some on one.cighth and some on tenth
OF their purchusCs--none, perhaps, on
more than fourth. THIS section pro-
vidcs, IN substance, that the highest
amount Of merchandise he may have on
hand at any one time during the wear,
shall be taxed. Now II successful mer-
chant with $1,000 worth OF goods con
stantly on hand, often sells SlU00D
worth IN u wear. In this cnse he would
pay taxes on but little over one-tenth of
his stocl. II he kocpsan average stock
Of 10000 on hand, and should still sell
but Sl00,0O0 worth IN the year, then hc
would pay taxes on bnt about ouc.ifth
of his purchases. A calculation from
the tables before cited will yield the
State bat SlI054l9, should the mcr-
chants OF The entire State under section
seven pay taxes at forty cents on the
Sl00.OO0 on the tenth Of their purchases.
Should they pay on one-diih OF their
purchases the State would realize but
S3l, l0S.9S in Hen Of SG39,6 1901! Thus
II is demonstrated tlnt about six hun
drcd tboreand dollars of revenue will
have to br provided for from other
sources. OF course il must come main
" Off Of the farming interest.
by section seven "Surh articles as are
only sent to market at particular sea-
sons of the year are to be deducted
from The average amount employed p
Now almost every article Of mcrchau.
disc hnS it's pnrticua. season OF the
year to be sent TO market heavy wool
lens FOR winter and light fabrics for
Spling and summer ctc., etc. Under
the loose wording of this section. al
most the cutirc tax on merchants may
and will be cyadpd rs he is only taxa
be on such articles rs he sells out of
season.
BY any construction that can he plnc-
ed upon The bin. il virtually makes the
merchants privileged class, almost. #
not quite. exempt from taNntion j. this
Just. aud is il sound policy? The farm
or is already clothed with many public
burdens from which the merchant Is
exempt Tho common school tax. for
instance, constituting onc.tlird OF the
property tax OF the State, Is not cXactcd
from the merchants. Another instance
is the burden ur repairing the public
roads of the country. Others might be
mentioned, And yet the farming inter.
est is the basis Of all prosperity The
farmer is Il produccr--the merchant u
I tru1np ,p ~ ,nu. ,,l,,nun "a .u,nyuiutnp
II the merchant acquires fortune Il
comes mainly, of of the farmer This.
we admit. is often done fairly, as the
farmer makes his purchases voluntarily.
but all advantage Is with ibe trader
aud in whatever unfair transactions
there are in the country the .nnncr j.
generally the sufferer
But Il Is said thnt no matter what tax
the merchant may have 10 pay, lie will
add Ito the sale price OF his goods. and,
after all, his customers will have II 90
pay. II this be 40, why does he com
plain, no he will moi lose by being taxed
Ills no doubt generally true that be
does get back the most Of his
taxes from bis patrons and " all his
customers were properly taxpayers IL
might make but little difference II tho
burden OF taxation was transferred pn-
tirCly to the shoulders OF The lnnd own
ers. But there is vNsl amount Of
goods sold IN the State. bought by those
who pay little or no property tax, and
only p1} indirectly TO The merchant, and
the merchant. under our present law. to
the State. Release the merchant, aud
this class viii pay 40 tax nj all. u l.
not tie farmer lhat uxpends large SUN.