Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1875-02-20
A TwENTY-FIyE CENTS TAX.

lie ioheSt Tdtt VI Dtdtc LAX YET pro- L
posed by any member of the present |
Legislature is twenty-five cents. As |
the object is to relieve the people as |
mech as possible, let us see the amount !
of relief that would be afforded by the
rate named. Let us be practical. Theil
amount of reduction would be fifteen
cents on the one hundred dollars.
Apply this to various grades of tax
payers. from the lowest upward.
Take the negro who has bought and
fenced in with brush two or three
acres of raw clay hillside, on which he
strings together cabin partly of wood
and canvas and bark The whole rig
is worth less than a hundred dollars,
but if he pays taxes on that amount
he saves exactly fifteen cents In the
course of twelve months-one cent
and a quarter per month. How much
will that relieve him? To what ex-
tent will it better his condition? Will
it make the pot boil faster or his family
more thrifty? However much or little
it might be, one drink less of Christ
mas eggnog would relieve his finances
Just as much.
Ascending higher in the scale, let
US take the poor bat proyident me-
chanic. who owns little home asses
sed at 81 900. How much relief would
twenty-five cents State tax afford
him? Exactly one dollar and fifty
cents In the course of a year-not quite
three cents week. What additional
comforts dare he venture to indulge.
on this small margin? The loss of
half days work in the whole year
would counterbalance all the relief
thus generously afforded him by the
State at the cost of repudiated pledges
of but two years standing. Is not
this selling honor too cheap? Is there
one mechanic or workiugman in the
State who would ask such pitiful re-
lief at such costly sacrifice? No,
the bone and sinew of Tennessee are
not of those who would trifie with our
credit, driving capital from our bord
ers. 1t is men who do not labor with
their hands that are engaged in these
Jimfskian schemes-speculators, pol
iticians, demagogues.
Ascending higher in the scale of
wealth, let us take the taxpayer az
sessed at $4,000, and learn what sur
cease from sorrow he could extract out
of twenty-five cents tax The
amount of his reduction would be SIS,
or about twenty-nine cents week, the
price of two drinks. So much for the
so, 900 men. They are in a decided
minority, but both law and morals de-
cree that they should pay in proportion
to their less fortunate neighbors, whose
aggregate taxes protect their $4,000
in peace, and whose bodies and lives
protect it n war.
So of the man assessed for 800, 600.
Two chances to one, he has another
100000 in some untaxable shape,
such as United States bonds or easily
hidden notes Of hand. Very few men
of such wealth keep it all in a shape
that the assessor. can reach. Still, he
is so unfortunate as to own 100000 of
visible property, whether it be big
bonanza Of East Tennessee ore, broad
acres in Middle Tennessee, or i'm
proved property in Memphis. He
may have other and enormous taxes to
pay, county and municipal ;butwe are
speaking of the State tax only, as that
is all the direct relief that the Legis-
lature can extend. The reduction in
his taxes under the proposed rate of
twenty-five cents would amount to ex-
actly $780, Men of this class are few
and far between, but as they almost
universally enjoy other sources of in
come, it does seem that this relief of
$3.50 would be but lifting a feathers
weight from the burden of managing
their 100000 of visible property,
whether it be in mines or fields or
blocks of business houses, Of one
thing we are morally certain: such
relief would not induce them to pay
| the miner one cent. more wages-to
rent their acres to poor Granger or
their stores to the struggling merchant
one cent. cheaper.
After thus dispassionately review
ing the amount Of relief that a State
tax of twenty FIVE cents would afford
to all classes from the lowest TO the
highest, and considering on the other
hand that such rate is calculated, if
not designed, to prevent the payment
OF interest pledged only two years ago
by a Democratic Legislature elected
as freely by the people as the present
body, we can reach but one conclusion:
The degree of relief offered is fright
fully small compared with the price
we are asked to give. 1t would be
paying too much for our whistle.
Tennesseeans cannot, will not, sell
themselves so cheap.-Union and
american.