Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1870-02-16


h goods II is said the less tax there is OF
s the merchant the cheaper will his good
G ! be- Then why not take all tax off tia
= class and make goods very cheap s.
II The higher the goods are the fewer the tai
o paying class viii buy, aud the more vii
4 the tax be forced upon the pleasure clas
= of the people. The retail merchants OF
e the country, villages and towns viii bt
= benefited very little il any by this pro
! posed change in the Constitution, because
T it puts an advalorem tax upon the highest
| | amount they have on hand at any one
| period in the year, and then allows a
5 special tax of $500, and the special tax of
! VERY few of them amounts to more than
that, while the special tax of some whole
sale merchants amounts to eight or ten
times that amount; and they would not
, / pay an advalOrem tax on one-fourth as
much according to the capital invested as
the retail merchant, because of their
chances to eYaGo the law by constantly
selling out and shipping new supplies
to I'LL the vacuum caused by the
sac, and having foreign partnerships
Thus A, atMemphis, sells goods for the
house of B, in New York; never has On
hands at any one time more than $25, 600
worth; sells every day and receives new
supplies from his nonresident partners
house, who shares the profits; sells
probably 81, 600, 900 worth in one year,
and pays an ad valorem tax on only $780,
600; then here would be 1915, 600 on
which no ad valorem tax was paid, so
this merchant would lack S., 900; pay
ing as much sd valorem tax according to
his capital as the small retail merchant,
for he would pay only 800, when, in
fact, he ought to pay $4,000. So, if his
special tax could not exceed $500, then
the tax on 81, 200, 900 could not exceed
5000; while the farmer, who owns
| 81, 900, 900 worth would have to pay
| 81, 900 tax and have an income of about l
two per cent per annum. Suppose there
were in Memphis, Nashville and Knox
vile, fifty wholesale merchants of this
size, 5000, 900 worth of revenue would be
lost of the ad valorem tax, and at 81
on the 500 specific tax 50, from
each, so fifty times that amount would be
| S475, 600. Under the system proposed by
| the committee, al retail merchants in the
interior of our country would be still OPP
| pressed with taxes, and the wholesale |
merchants and agents at Memphis, Nash |
vile and Knoxville, and nonresident mer- |
chants, would be built up. WIso states |
manship dictates the building up the inte-
riOr part of a country by enriching its 1
people and bringing money into it. Where
the merchant is taxed on his sales as a
privilege, the above al valorem is not |
given to wholesale and nonresident mer-
chants over the retail. 1t is said that
merchants have been wronged by the
Legislature. They have had to pay S1.90
on the 500, privilege tax, and now they
have TO pay less than 81 on the 500. So
the farmer has been oppressed for his tax
four times greater than before the war,
and his means to pay them about half as |
great, for the whole cOlOred race
have been freed and his farm almost
entirely destocked. If the wholesale
merchants aresO oppressed, why have they
grown rich since the war; Another argu-
ment is that ninety-nine out of every
hundred break, and that Kentucky and
Ohio and various other States have the
system here proposed. | would ask if
more merchants break in Tennessee, ac-
cOrding to numbers, than anywhere else.
If not, this is no argument against our
present system. 1t is their own system
that breaks them. Many commence on |
borrowed capital; miss their calling;
live extravagantly manage badly and a
pressure comes upon them and they 90 |
under. Besides our State is not Kentucky, |
or Ohio. They are out of debt and in
prosperous condition, while we are greatly
in debt and oppressed. Suppose farmer {
e | 4
sonal property and his income was per |
cent per aunum net, that would be 81, 900. {
Suppose the merchant had the same ]
amount invested in goods and his income
was 20 per cent per annum net, that |
would be $50, 900. So if income is not | +;
to betayed, here the merchants would have | 4;
$50, goo, protected by law without
paying tax, and the farmer only $4,000. | {
Again the merchant has all his capital in |
actual use, while half the farmer is dead | t
capital and under the present proposed ! I
clause to the Constitution he never has
more than half his capital on hand at any I
one period in thesyear: therefore the far
mer would be paying an ad YalOrem tax on !
four times as much according to isactual
moving capital as the merchant. So at
40 cents on the dollar, the tiller of the
soil pays on the 800, 600 $500 taxes and
the merchant on the same amount would |
pay only 500. Then if the State debt
of $40, 900, 600 had to be paid off by an
ad ValOrem tax, the agricultural class
would pay four times as much according
to their means as the mercantile class aC-
cording to their means. The license tax
or privilege of merchants in the State is
tax in the State is about $1,000, 900. If
justice demands it taken off of the dry
goods merchant, it equally demands that it
be taken off every other privilege, and have
no such thing as license tax, but make
it all al valorem. This would reduce
the State revenue, under the present sys-
TEN of forty cents on the 800, $1,000
600. But it is said that the object is only
to reduce the licenbe or privilege tax on
the dry goods merchant, and leave the
druggist, produce merchant, peddler,
stallion and jack keeper, lawyer and doc
tor, and all other privileges at the mercy
of the Legislature that is too corrupt 10
entrust the tax on dry goods toO-another
idea TO break down home industry and
manufacturing, and aid foreigners How
does this work If the dry goods priv
ilege merchant tax is $4,000 under |
a tax of $3.50 on the 800, what would
it be at forty cents on the dollar! A small
amount over one-fOurth. So, for safe
calculation, would say it would decrease
our State revenue at least $3.50, 900.
But add to this the fact that One-half the
actual capital vested in goods is not on
hand at any one period in the year, and
the State income would be reduced some
thing more than $500, 000 Our State
debt is now over $40, 900, 900; the inter
est on that is 81, 400, 600; Governmental
expenses about 100000; Conventional
expenses about S25, 600; expenses of the
three additional Supreme Judges about
$4,000. Then, the interest on our State
debt and expenses of our Government
viii be about 50, 237, 600 for the present
year. Our taxes last year, including all
privileges, was not quite $4,000, 600.
Take off of that $500, 600, and it will be
about 81, 500, 900, and lack about $780,,
600 paying the interest and expenses
and our taxes are now four times greater
than they were before the war, and the
farmers means about half what they
were before the late struggle. So merely
to pay the interest of our debt and ex-
penses Of our State, the tax would have
to be at least ten times greater than be-
fore the war upon the agricultural class