Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1870-02-11
THE CONVENTION
TWENTY-EIGHsTis DAY.

| Brown in the chair. Prayer by ReY. Nj
Inman, after which the journal was rea
and approved.
TAXATION.
The question of reconsidering the Yot
adopting the following amendment OF
cred by Mr.. Ivie, to the first paragraph I
section %, was taken up. The amend
ment reads as follows:
'All lands held by deed, grant or entry
town lots, bank stocks and such Othe
property as the Legislature may, fror
time to time, deem expedient, shall b
taxable"
Mr.. Nicholson strongly opposed tn
proposition of the committee. He though
it looked too much like the work of
Legislature. All taxation should beequal
but the committee had exempted million
of property in their own proposition. Hi
idea was to leave the whole matter to tn
Legislature. lie was so anxious to see al
the liabilities of the State met, that h
would be willing to have all the property
in the State taxed, without exemption
He read the proposition of the committed
as amended by the Convention, and com
mented on its several provisions Th'
paragraph reads as follows:
"All property, real, personal or mixed
shall be taxed, but the Legislature may
except such as may be held by the State
by counties, cities or towns, and used ex
clusively for public or corporation pur
poses, and such as may be held and uset
for purposes purely religious, charitable,
scientific, literary, or educational; and ex
cept one thousand dollars worth of perso
nal property in the hands of each tax
payer, and the direct products of the sol
in the hands of the producer"
Mr.. Heiskell showed that the Lcgisla
ture had had this subject under cOnsidcra
ton for years, and the result was that
many sweeping exemptions had been made.
The object of the committees amendment
was to narrow this down, and place taxa
ton on a basis of equality and justice.
Mr.. House, of Montgomery, reviewed
the speech of Mr.. Nicholson. He could
not find in it an answer to the argument,
of the Chsirman of the Committee on
Finance. Did the gentleman from Maury
propose to leave the matter entirely to the
Legislature, not even specifying lands
If the Constitution was not the place to
put in these great fundamental principles,
why have any organic law at all? He
thought the proposition of the committee
was the best that could be adopted.
Mr.. Brown, of Davidson, spoke strong
ly in favor of the report of the commit
tee. He urged it on the ground that the
credit of the State should be kept up, and
that nothing would affect it more at home
and abroad than broad and equal tax
alton. He wanted the Convention, before
it adjourned, to give to the world the
most solemn assurances that all the debt
would be paid. His argument was, that
if they would tax according to the report
of the committee, they would make the
burden equal and tighten the now heavy
load upon the people.
Mr.. Cypert thought the report of the
committee went too far. II proposed to
tie the hands of the Legislature for all
time, and lay down fixed system of
revenue. He did not think they ought to
paralyze one of the great coordinate fea-
lures of government, and renderit power
less to perform one of its functions. 1t
was proposed to throw aside all the tinan-
cial machinery and substitute new. He
was opposed 70 all this.
Mr. Hill, of Gibson, could not see any
good reason for changing the old Consti-
tuition. He was opposed TO the Conven-
ton specifying What property should and
what should not be taxed. Whyla down
an inilcxible rule. They could not tell
to-day what system of taxation would be
the best five years hence.
The vote adopting Mr.. Iyic's amend
ment was rccOnsidered.
Mr.. Fentress Offered the following in
lieu of the report of the committee:
"All property, real, personal and
mixed, shall be taxed, except such as may
be held by State and counties; provided
the Legislature shall have power to eX-
empt such property as may be held by
cities or towns, exclusively for corpora
ton purposes, and also such property as
may be held and used for purposes pure
ly and exclusively religious, charitable,
scientific, literary or eduCatiOnal-and
also household and kitchen furniture and
farming implements to the value of
$500"
Mr.. Fentrcss thought his proposition
would meet most if not all of the objc-
tons urged against the report of the com,
mittee. What the poor people complained
of was that exemptions always tended to
the side of the rich. He was opposed tC
the exemption of the $1,000 worth OF
property as reported by the committee.
The amendment was rejected by the
following vote:
Ayes Mcssrs. Blizzard, Britton, Brooks
Brown, of Henry, Carroll, Gibson an(
Madison, Burkett, Burton, Campbell
Chowning, Davenport, Fcntrcss, Gaut
Gordon, House, Of Williamson, Key
McNabb, Mccks, Porter, of Haywood
Shepard, Thompson, of Davidson
Thompson, of Maury, Turner and vii
liamsOn-23.
Noes-Mcssrs. Allen, Arlcdgc, Bate
Baxter, Blackburn, Brandon, BransOn
Brown of Davidson, Byne, Carter, COT
fee, Cypert, DcaderiCk, Dibbrell, Doher
ty, Dromgoole, Fielder, Finley, Fulker
son. Garner, Gibbs, Gibson, Heiskell
Henderson, Hill of Warren, Hill of Glib
son, House of Davidson, Robertson AM
| Montgomery, Ivie, Jones of Lincoln
Jones of Giles, Kennedy, kirkpatrick
KYLE, Mabry, McDOugal, Martin, Morris
Netherland, Nicholson, Parker, Sample
Seay, Shelton, Staley, Stephens, Taylor
Watecs, Warner, Wright-49.
MIR. Allen Offered the following, whicI
was laid on the table bya vote of 81 to J
Resolved, That all property, personal
real or mixed, shall he taxed, except tina
the Legislature may exempt such as ma
be held by the State, by counties, cite
| or towns. and used for public or corpora
ton purposes, or such as may be held fl
purposes purely religious, charitable, SC
| entifc, literary or educational, and eXcep
$500 worth of personal property in til
hands of each taxpayer.
Mr.. Gibson offered the following
lieu of the proposition of the committe,
| Sec. %. All property, real, persons
or mixed, shall he taxable, except cigh
hundred dollars worth of personal prof.
crtv in the hands of taxpayer, and tn
direct product of the soil in the hands {
the producer; but the Legislature ma
exempt such property as may be held b
the State or counties, cities and town
and used exclusively for public or c0rpOl
alton purposes, and such as may he hel
and used for purposes exclusively rclis
ioug, charitable or educational.
Mr.. House of Montgomery, moved
Law the amendments of Mr. Gibso
and Ivic both on the table. Carried !
vote of SO to SO.
Mr.. Kirkpatrick moved to reconsid
the vote tabling the amendments of M
Gibson and Mr.. Ivie.
On motion of Mr.. BLIZZARD, this motto
was tabled by vote of Al to 80.