The Cairo bulletin. [volume] (Cairo, Ill.) 1872-1878, 1875-08-15
TAXATION.
Letter From D. r. Line.
gar, Esq, on the
Subject.
A New System Suggested ana
Ably Urged.
The State to Assume
the Railroad Debts.

CAIRO. LII, August 9th, 1875.
Hon, Thomas :. Ridgway, state Treasurer
Springfield, Illinois
| DEAR SIR:-l write you on u subject
OF great Importance to the taxpayers OF
| this State, and one that will command at.
| tention soon.
The railroad debt contracted by coun.
ties, cities and towns, is great burthen
upon many localities so much so that il
paralyZes industries, and depreciates
values. Most of these debts were con-
tracted under the railroad law Of 1869.
How to relieve these communities from
this burthen without doing injustice to
other communities which have not such
debts, is the question. have given this
subject considerable thought, and from
reflection, conversation and reading, have
reached the conclusion that just aud
equitable mode can be established which
will be successful and satisfactory to the
people. submit it to you for your
consideration aud criticism. The plan Is
as follows:
First. Release all railroad, telegraph,
and insurance corporporations or COM
panies from taxation for county, town or
city purposes.
Second. Release all other property, real
andpcrsonal, from taxation for Statcp
poses.
Wird. Raise all State revenue from
tax upon the gross receipts of Rail-
roads, Telegraph, and Insurance Com
panies.
TourM. Raise all municipal revenue
from local taxation upon real and per-
sonal properly, licenses, &c.
FVM. The State to assume the County,
Town, and City railroad Indebtedness,
and pay the same out of the revenue de-
rived from the gross receipts of corpora
tons.
This mode OF taxation is simple, cheap
and equitable. 1t taxes these corpora
tons accordln! to their prosperity. The
new railroad that is struggling for cXis-
tence is not taxed beyond all means to
pay, and the old, wealthy one is made
to give up Il portion of its earnings for
the support of the State government.
The present unequal and unjust sys-
TEN of taxation lin practice if not in
theory will be broken up. The board of
equalization will be unnecessary and may
be abolished, and thereby large eX-
pense saved to the State. 1t will greatly
lessen the expense of the legislature by
removing therefrOm the veXed question
of revenue bills, which is the ghost of
almost every legislature.
ii gives TO the State an ample revenue
to pay the expenses Of the State govern
ment and pay the interest upon the
State debt, and the Municipal Railroad
debt. In this way the State government
can be run. the State debt and the Mu-
nicipal Railroad debt be paid of. and the
people never feel the burthen Of taxa
ton
1t leaves all real and personal property
to be taxed for local purposes (; County,
Town, and City governments, improve
ments OF roads, bridges, streets, avenues,
DC. 1t does away with the unjust dis
elimination In assessment In different To-
calities under the present system. I'M
der the proposed system, each locality
makes its assessment upon its property,
and if its assessment is higher than some
other county, it suffers no Inconvenience
because of the unequal assessment.
There is only SO much tax TO be raised,
and if the assessment Is high the per-
centage will be correspondingly low.
The Railroad debt that we are
trying to dispose OF for the re-
lief Of the burthened localities, was as l
have stated, mostly created under the
law passed in 1860, which gave to the To-
calities the State tax upon the increased
valuation Of property for ten years, TAX