The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1875-02-18
CONCERNING THE LEGISLATURE AND
TAXATION.

Five weeks Of the present session Of
the Legislature have been spent, and we
are reluctantly forced to the conclusion
that the results will be totally unsatisfac-
tory to the taxpayers. They asked for
bread-it has given them stone. The
press and leaders of the dominant party,
the Governor among the rest, have all adj
mitted the justice of the complaints of the
people, and the duty Of the Legislature to
remedy the evils, the removal of which was
petitioned.
The Auditor in his report to the Leg
islature called attention to the fact that for
assessing alone the present year, the cost
would be s119, 000-six times more than
it ought to be, unless provided against by
legislatio1-but no attention has been paid
to his recommendation. The cost of col.
lecting taxes make too large PEI
cent of the gross assessments and in
addition to this defect, the present sys
TEN, bears unequallY upon different kind:
of property, and, consequently, upon
different classes of citizens and callings.
Under it millions Of dollars Of personal
property escape taxation entirely, and
this requires that the rate on those
kinds which do not escape, shall be heav
Ter than it ought equitably to be. Real
estate, consisting of lands and buildings
being visible to all, is always taxed +; il
never escapes. 1t is not fair that real es
tate, which, as whole, yields a very low
rate of annual interest or profit to its OVID
ers, should pay the taxes which other
more available kinds of property manage,
under our present imperfect system, tc
avoid paying. In the country, tax on
real estate is mainly tax on farmers, a
class Of men whose incomes are small,
and sui iect to be reduced below a living
rate by drouths, insects and blights. In
towns and cities a real estate tax is sup
posed to be exclusively en landlords, and
the owners of houses but, ultimately,
it is tax on the tenants who rent the
houses, for the rate OF tax has much
to do with the rates Of rents. A real es-
tate tax, therefore, reaches all persons
at last; bot it would not be just, for this
reason, to make it pay all the revenue ;
for this would require high rate, and in
the country where farmers cannot shift
their taxes upon renters this would be
found oppressive.
No tax is more just than the Poll. 1t
is based on the principle, that every voter
ought to pay something to the support of
the government which protects him !;
but of all taxes that have ever been
attem pied, the poll tax yields the
most unsatisfactory results. They are
compelled to pay it who have proper
ty that can be seized for non-payment,
while those who have no such visible and
seizable property do not pay it. The
delinquent list of polls is beyond proper
ton to all others; and the worst OF it is,
that the class who have nothing but their
poll tax to pay, and are delinqueLts in
that, are agents through whom the spoils-
men levy their enormous contributions on
tAe people who do pay. The poll tax in
this State ought to yield $3.50, 900 per an
mum. We suppose it does not yield more
than two-thirds of the sum, because the
polls cannot be, or are not made to pay.
Two years ago law was passed appointing
Delinquent Poll Tax Collectors. With
saddle bags in hand, these officials roved
from neighborhood to neighborhood, Wis
iting every nook and corner of the State,
and yet the Auditor reports that from
more than half the counties no returns of
collections were made.
No exception has been taken to any of
the recommendations set forth in the petit
ton Of the Tax payers Convention. No
argument has been made to overturn
tbem. The evils complained of are ad
mitted. But no practical step has been
taken for remedying them. The process
of coniscation still goes on. Hon. II. M.
Street has presented the issue of reform
sharply and practically, in his PROPOSE
ton fixing the State tax at 81 mills ON
the dollar. If the majority are in earnest
in their pledges and professions they will
sustain this proposition, and then vote to
adjust the expenses of the State govern
ment to the income which will be derived
from it.
z. S.-Since the above was written the
Salary Reduction bill, which had already
passed the Senate, has been adopted by
the House. This is good as far as it goes;
but it is mere feather in the mountain
load of oppression from which the peo-
pie are demanding to be relieved.
The Louisiana Investigation.
The second Committee who have been
this investigation have ad-
journed. Its object was well understood |
to he the Durelv nartiSan one of maxine q