The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1873-06-12


i.aw IS the absorbing topic Of thought
AMI c,nyersation fast now, Il concise
history Of It and It's object may not be
embarrassing.
Gov Brown, in his message 10 the I
Eite General Assembly. on pare Il un- 1
der the mead " assess Hients,s said 81 I
fair and thorough trial Of onr present +
system 81 Revenue law has denionstra-
ted tlIat II Is Inadequate to meet tIe de- +
nlands upon the Treasury for the CUR
rent expenditures Of the government i
ana tae prompt payment of the annual /
interest upon orr indebtedness.
On page Of said message, after say-
ing sit IS evident that the whole law OF
assessments should be thoroughly re-
modelled, and speaking of the proper
qualifications Of assessors, Gov. Brown
says: .sTo aid them fthe assessors) in /
the discharge Of their duties, and ut the
same time to nIlcarfh Il large amount of
| personal property, especially about the
4 towns and cities, which now pays no
4 taxes, I suggest TINT erery tae payer
4 render a schedule ofatl his property, snon-
I eg, b0Hds, stocks, choses IL action, eto4
certified by him 10 be correct, and de-
liver 1t to the tax assessors on or before
n day specified by law, aRder Just and
1 proper restrictions and penalties. This
/ would place every tax payer upon an
equal footing. The citizen who desires
Is do right will not complain ut this
mode Of rendering his taxable property.
lie who is not willing to comply with
the law should be compelled TO yield
his obedience, so as to share equally
sith his fellow-citizens the general
burden" See Governors message, APP
| pendix 70 Senate and House Journal, in
the County Court Clerks Office.
The Senate Journal lin the County
/ Court Clerks oflice) shows the follow
ing facts in regard to the Assessment
Law:
Senator McKenna, of Shelby, intro
duced the bill, No. 1874. See page I91,
under "New Bills" It was referred to
the Committee on Finance, Ways and
Means, (see page POS, under Senate
Ellis second reading), and reported up
on by Senator Hughes, their Chairman,
(see page 239, under "Reports.')
Section . Of the law, as originally
drafted, prohibited members of the
County Court from acting as assessors.
See page 272, under Section 10 of the
bill which became Section % Of the
law.
When Section 81 of the bill (31 of the
law, which provides for the schedule
and rate, was under consideration in
the Senate, Mr.. Smithson offered the
following in lieu of or as a substitute
for Section 81 of the law, to-wit: ''The
Comptroller shall have printed, ruled
and bound Il sufficient number Of as
sessment books each year, with an oath
attached, for the assessment of taxes;
and it-shall be ruled in such manner as
the Comptroller shall deem proper" If
this had been adopted the tax payers
would not have been troubled with the
present schedule. The assessor would
have taken down the property of the
tax payer on his assessment book, once
for all, just as heretofore. See top Of
page 273, under Section p, which be-
came Section 81 of the law.
The tax payers oath, now printed on
the schedule, was introduced by Sena-
tor Coulter, OF Gibson county. See
page 273.
Mr.. rillman, OF Lincoln, offered the
proviso to Sec. As of the bill, 45 of the
law, fixing the assessors fees at 10
cents a list and five cents a poll. See
page 27S, under Sec. 4S of the bill, 45 Of
the law.
A great deal has been said against
this law and the schedule. The assess
ment law is little more than a compila
ton of former laws on the same subject,
as a comparison of the law with the
code will fully prove.
The first objection is to the schedule
and oath. The schedule was prepared
by the Comptroller. The Legislature
l Il III no NAY IGSAlOalstult LOT us 10TH OF
contents. The law only provides that
the Comptroller shall furnish the print
ed forms for listing aud assessing prop
erty, and that said blank shall enumer-
ate all exemptions and contain a synop-
sis of the law for the assessment of
property, and Chat said schedule shall
be properly arranged and contain a
proper classification of property. This
is all that the law says on the schedule.
| las ta.x- T.,
give in his property and its value.
What fault can be found with this? 1t
was certainly proper to print synOp-
sis Of the law and the exemptions on
the blank, so that every tax payer
might know his rights and duties under
the law.
Much of the dissatisfaction with the
law has resulted from the blank rs got
ten up by Comptroller Hobbs. The
law only requires the tax payer to give
i'm his property and its value, without
any calculation or further trouble. The
blank requires him to make several
calculations and show the nett results
as to both his personally and realty.
1t was also inaccurate by including the
merchants tax and requiring tax pay
crs to list insolvent claims. There was
nothing in the Ian to warrant this
1t led to confusion and dissatisfaction
! ! Another error was that the Comptroller
! instructed the assessors to require every
tax payer to fill out a schedule, wheth-
er he had one thousand dollars worth
of personal property or not OF course
the law Is not censUred for these things
, The tax payers oath is no new
; thing. The Code, See. 573 and 573 A..
{ requires substantially the same OATH
2 The law has required every tax payer
5 to take this oath for ut least 20 years
The tax payer is only required to swear
l that he has given In all his property
and mt fair valuation. The oath will
, not hurt man who is willing, honest
= ", to list all his property. A man
who is not willing so to list his proper
" has no right TO object TO the oath
He ought TO be sworn.
The second objection Is that the
schedule requires the tax payer to give
2 ia all his property, even to the 'lasi
plow," the ''last hoe" etc, and the
''picture of his departed friend,' etc
r The law is not to blame about this. II
: says not one word about agricultural
implements, pictures, etc. IL there be
7 blame il is the flult of the blank,
Section IS, Article ,, of the Constitu-
ton says: "All property, real, personal
or mixed, shall be taXed.n It then eX-
empts certain property, used for public
purposes, and one thousand dollars
worth of personal property. Section
| ! of the assessment law provides, in sub
stlntialiy the same language, that call
: property, real, personal and mixed,
shall be assessed" etc. Section Of the
law eNempts substantially the same
property, as does the Constitution. II
{ there is anything wrong here It is the
Constitution, and not the law, for the
law must conform to the Constitution.
The words. IAN property, real, person
al and mixed, - used ia the Constitution
c would include not only "the last hoe
and "the last plow," but would include
wearing apparel, and everything else
, in the shape of property, down to a pa
per collar or a shoe string.
: Another reason why everything
= should be assessed is that under the
: : Constitution there is enc thousand dol
lars worth Of personal property exempt
E from taxation. A large majority OF
, persons have not 81 900 werth of per-
, sonal property, all told. Yet, when the
: property of all persons having less than
81 900 is added together, it makes more