Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1874-10-20
ICOMMUSICATED.
IU-
Taxation.

Taxation.
Often, when legal authority Is Consulted,
mistaken notions of law frequently arise IN
the mind from the careless manner in which
lawyers sometimes give their opinions =; and 1t
has been asserted, and repeated on that asSer-
ton, that the Corporation Attorney, the
highest legal authority We can consult, and
whose opinions are clear and pointed, express
ly states that the City Council does not pos
sess the power to tax real estate, exemptlng
personal property. for the purpose of the mn
proyement OF the streets. The Corporation
Attorney expressly states" nothing Of the
kind. He has too much pride in his opiuioo as
| a lawyer, to utter any such nonsense. Such
tax has been made aud collected. He knows
that the constitutional principle OF Virginia Of
equal and uniform taxation, Was a political
question, and not judicial; and the question Of
equal and uniform taxation 10 opposition to the
old mode OF unequal and specific taxes, Was 10
corporated 10 the new Constitution o! 1872
| The question before the people was Tor the al
vaorem plan, or SO much per CT on the value
of property, instead of, as before, Oh the prop
erty itself The object of taxation Is TO raise
money to pay the exposes aud debts OF gov
erumcnt; and the Constitution means, that if
the Legislature is necessitated by the demands
on the treasury, to tax both real aud personal
property to get sufficient revenue, the dollar
value of the property shall be taxed aud not
the article 1t docs no; mean that because one
article OF property is taxed, that every other
article, as a consequence, shall be also taxed
| The CITY Council can tax AS house aud cot
his horse Just as it elects, and A. cannot es-
cape paying taxes on his house under the plea
that he must be taxed uniformly aud equally
on every thing that he owns before he eau be
made to pay any tax at all. The burden OF
taxes should be borne equally by all property;
but it would be mantesty Unequal to tax per-
sohal property to improve specially streets The
charter OF the City Of Alexandria is not an act
of the City Council, but an act Of the General
Assembly, and 33d section says THE City
Council shall have power to specially t4r a lot
adjoining street on which paving Is done or
curbstoue put down whether on the sidewalk
or carriage way not exceeding two thirds OF the
expenses of the curbstune or paving on that
half of street opposite such lot SO the char
ter says the City Council can specially tax lot
for Improvement. Not charge expense to the
lot. but tax the lot for the Improvement, and
this tax must be set aside or used for the lm-
provement Of the streets opposite such lot;"
and the City Council can call it the improve
ment fund, curbstone fund or paving fund or
by any other name it may elect without effect,
ing the legality OF the TAX. The question here
is: Must the lot be taxed before the Improve
ment shall have been made, or alter the I'M
provemcnt has been made? The solution OF
this question can be Of 10 practical lupoI lance
SO long as everybody is treated alike, and real,
and not personal property is taxed for the pur-
pose; and if there is anything in the charter TO
FIND
tional, it would be, think the taxing Of per-
sonal property for the Improvement of streets
for the benefit Of lots adjoining such streets.
There are now special funds set aside, one of
six thousand FIVE hundred dollars for repairing
streets, and fifteen hundred dollars for cleaning
streets, and when these funds shall have been
exhausted for repairing and cleaning streets:
the Auditor will report the fact to the City
Coupcil, aud no more money for repairing and
cleaning streets eau be checked for unless b.
special appropriation. The Auditor reported
last meeting night the special fund tor making
and repairing pumps, exhausted. The charter
gives the City Council the right to put tax
on dogs, aud it taxes male dog one dollar and
female dog two dollars aud half 1t will
be seen that the principle OF equal aud uniform
taxation was, and is political and not g ju
dicia question, engraftcd 10 the Constitution in
opposition to the rule which, up to 1852, the
Legislature had OF unequal and specific taxes;
and it can, in no wise, be construed to mean,
that because the City Council does not tax
everything, it cannot therefore tax anything.
Every one who remembers the contest for the
| Convention which made the new Constitution
of 1852, knows what the provision uniform and
| equal taxation means. y. 3. y.
JUDGE MoNCURE--The Richmond CORES
pondeut of the Petersburg News says:--"Ihe
Supreme Court Of Appeals in session at Staun-
ton recently took a recess, upon the application
of members of the bar, to allow the President
Judge r. G. L. Moucure, to attepd the Eplsco-
pal Congress now in session in New York. The
Court will reconyene at Stanton on the 18th
proximo, and will begin its term at Richmond
on the lst ofDscember. The compliment paid
Judge Moncure by his brother members OF the
court, was delicate and expressive one. The
Court cannot we'll get along without him. His
! head now whitened with age contains wonder
full store of legal knowledge, his heart is as ten
der as woman S and the purity OF his char
actcr as a man aud jurist, conspicuous. His
decisions rarely fail to give satisfaction: the de-
feated party often fDds a balm for his wounds,
| in the knowledge that Judge Moncure has
passed upon his case. What Lee was as the
soldier, Mopcure is as the judge Each fur.
| nishes the highest type Of his professor. God
| grant that it may be many, many years ere he
IS taken from his work Good judges we have
now, and l hope will always have but vino could
exactly ill bis place Z?
There is to be discussion at Warrenton 90
Monday next between Messrs. Hutton and
Barbour.