Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1875-01-09

1tncts IL Is eNlu6lL 10 my mlnu, that the /
twenty duplicate numbeTs-4472 to 4491.- |
we're issued to the East Tennessee and |
Virginia Railroad Company, as part Of its
one hundred and twenty bonds, and should
have been numbered from 1872 to 1891,
inclusive. am, therefore, Of the opinion
that the General Assembly should, by resO-
luton, recognize the validity Of the dupli-
Gates, and authorize the registration or
funding Of them.
Not one of the "New Series Of FundiRg
Bonds" with coupon payable in Nashville,
has ever been called for. All that have
been issued have the coupons payable in
New York, whether owned in Tennessee
or elsewhere.
In addition TO the foregoing, respect
fully submit the following remarks and re-
for your consideration, and
that Of the General Assembly:
THE VALUATION OF PROPERTY.
Section 2S of Article III. of the COnstitu-
ton Of the State declares that
cali property, real, personal or mixed, shall
be taxed; but the Legislature may except such
as may be held by the state, by counties, cities
or towns, and used exclusively for public or
corporation purposes, and such as may be held
and used fOr purposes purely religious Chart
able, scientific, literary or educational and
shall except one thousand dollars worth OF per
sOnal property in the hands OF each taxpayer
and the direct products OF the soil in the hands
of the producer and his immediate vendee. All
property shall be taxed according TO its value,
that value 10 be aseertained in such manner as
the Legislature shall direct, 80 that the taxes
shall be equal and uniform throughout the
State. No one species Of property from which
a tax may be collected shall be taxed higher
than any other species Of property Of the same
value"
Leading difficulties which are encOun-
tered in the management Of the financial
affairs Of the State are:
/. In having a reasonably practical COM
pliance with SO much Of the foregoing sec
ton Of the Constitution as requires that
'All property shall be taxed according 10
its value" and that '.NO one species Of
property from which a tax may be collect
ed shall be taxed higher than any other
species Of property Of the same value"
?. In having prompt collection OF the
taxes levied.
3. In having prompt payment Of them
into the Treasury after they are collected.
Il is well established, by long and un-
varying experience, that large proportion
OftaX-payers postpone the payment Oftaxes
to the last moment that the laws delay
and its subterfuges viii permit. The sup
port, by taxation, Of the State Government
in rs three departments, Executive, Judi
cial and Legislative, seems, unfortunately,
70 be regarded by many, not as duty TO
be willingly performed BY the citizen, but
as a burden 10 be avoided by any possible
shifts. Too many, apparently, forget that
government cannot be maintained without
taxation; that without government We can
not have law and its enforcement; that
without law and its rigid Enforcement,
peace, order and rights of property, life,
liberty and the pursuit of happiness, can
not be secured nor maintained. The I'M
willingness to pay, and the neglect in the
payment of taxes, are not confined to those
who are least able to pay their just dues.
On the contrary, those who are hardest 10
meet these necessary demands are, as
general rule, found among those who have
most property dependent upon government
al protection.
Recurring TO the section Of the COnstitu-
ton which have quoted, 1 see no reason
why property held by counties, cities or
towns should not bear its just proportion OF
the burdens Of State government. If each
county, city and town had thesame amount
of property in value with every other cOun-
", city and town in the State, there would
be an equality in the exemption which
would make il more reasonable. Nor do
think that the exceptions in favor Of prop
eTty used for religious, charitable, scientific,
literary or educational purposes, should be
so great as under the present law. Those
institutions which help 70 pay to support
good government, which, in the language Of
scripture, render unto Cesar the things
that are Caesars, Will more readily appreci-
ate its blessings and thoroughly teach its
necessity. Again, under a misCOnceptiOn
of the Constitution, large amount fprop-
eTty in the State is not assessed that belongs
TO religious, charitable, scientific, literary
or educational Institutions, hut which is
not "held and used 'pUTeiy" for either Of
those purposes.
All property is not taxed according to its
value. Indeed, it would be difficult to
find any property that is so taxed. Ere
quently one species Of property is taxed
higher than another species Of property Of
the same value. This is notably so with
regard to stocks and bonds in comparison
with realty, or with other personally.
From pamphlet prepared and published
by Hon. NJ. Z. Williamson, Of Shelby, a
member Of the last General Assembly, on
Assessment and Taxation in Tennessee, l
extract the following relative TO the as
sessed and true value Of property in the
several States Of the Union in 1870:
'sThe assessed values in Texas are 1916 Of the
estimated true values. Virginia and South Car
olina, 9-l0; Rhode Island and Mississippi, e.;
Nevada, West Virginia and Louisiana, SC; Ala
hama. Nebraska, Florida and Massachusetts,, 81;
Kentucky, Maryland, New Jersey and Delaware,
%; Arkansas, Georgia, New Hampshire, Ore
gOn, Connecticut and Maine, ~; Indiana, Kan
sas, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee and Wis
cOnsin, 1-2; Missouri, 40; Vermont and Iowa,
SIP; Michigan, IS, Pennsylvania, l-3; New
York, 4-l3, and Illinois, %. Since $50, how
ever, some Of the States have greatly increased
in assessed values. Illinois, in
stead of assessing at less than Il the value, now
stands ~. Indiana and Ohio have risen from
half values TO about three-fOurths, leaving three
States in the list with Tennessee a. half yalua-
ton, and five at less than half
Standing, then, as our State does, in pOpula-
ton, 7 in farm lands, 10 in farm lands improved
with the favorable showing that has been made
as to production, etc, etc. and in State in
in assessed values she ought TO be
seventh instead Of seventeenth, as she now is"
From the same pamphlet l make these
further extracts:
According TO the Census Reports, only two
counties in Tennessee Tor $50 assess at full val
ues, two at $40 Of true value, one at o. four at
sc, three at 4 5, and ter counties at 81; i've
counties show a % valuation, seven a 3-5, four
a 90, three Up. Thus we see that only forty
one counties in the State assess at more than
half values, seventeen assess az half values, five
at SIP, six at 25, three at 3-S nine at Is two at
Il, and one at Is Of the true value. Can these
things be, and no effort made to control them?
''In the year 1865, the State lost over $50 900,
]T was deprived OF that amount Of revenue from
me district Of Shelby county, because the a.
SCISSORS for that district reduced the values from
ia 900 900 10 fraction over S 900 900. The as
ssSOTs gave as their reason for this great redut
ion, that shelby county was paving more than
is share OF State revenue. The next year, other
issessOrs put the values for that district up %
sli,ulO,O0O. Two years afteTward, the assessor
Or the fifth district Of Shelby county reduced |
values about fifteen per cent or from Sl4 10000
10 Sl2,0l00DO. The County Court OF shelby |
county reduces assessments very reckiessly.
One of our largest taxpayers for ISL saved |
over $, 0J1 tax by reductions granted by the |
court. OF this amount. about 81 200 was State
tax. For 1871 the total reductions on values |
granted By the court amounted 10 nearly
81 900 900, or about Onc-f0rtieth part OF the as.
For 1872 the reductions weIe over
81 900 600 a few years ago, one tract Of land Of
Dr.. b. X. Thomas, near Memphis, was return
ed 10y the assessor at $3.50. The property was
worth $4,000. Another tract, belonging 70 the
same person, was assessed at $780, worth
$4,000"
What is here said Of the County Court
Of Shelby, Is it was constituted q few years
age, is now true Of the County Courts Of
many counties of the State. Assessments
are 50 uncertain and irregular that it is i'm
possible TO estimate the amount Of revenue
that Will be derived from a given rate Of
taxation. 1t is not unusual for lands lying
in one civil district to be assessed at 2 half
or a third more than adjoining lands in
another district.