The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1878-01-10
The coming strnEg1e.

1 The C0u11nR SGfuE&Ies - ssffEs
MIR. .BARBoUR's VIEWS ON THE PUBLIC DEBT
EMBR1CED IN a BlLL-THE READJgsTERs
SPEAK THROUGH HIM-WHAT THEY ARE
PREPARED TO DO-THREE PEE CEST. IN
| TEREsT. ..si
The following bill was on Yesterday pre-,
sented to the House Finance Committee by
Mr.. Barbour, and was by the committee or.
dered to be printed /:
a Biz Imposing I'dses on Real and Per.
sonaL Property to Meet the Necessary
Expenses Of the Gouernnaent for Public
Free-Schoot Purposes, for general -Par.
poses, and to- Pay The Interest on, the Pub.
tic Debt. 81
Whereas the condition of the people oi
this Commonwealth is such rs to render an
increase OF the rate OF taxation upon prop
erty impraeticable. and the General Assem-.
bly, Of Virginia, conceding that its power
to tax the property or person Of the citizen
must at all times be confined within the rea-
sonabie limits prescribed by what, in The
Judgment OF the General Assembly. is the
ability OF the citizen to pay without ruinous
damage to his property and business, hereby
declares that the present rate Of taxation
| to wit, fifty cents on every one hundred
dollars Of the assessed value Of property
| Is the utmost limit to which the General
! Assembly should proceed in 2leTyiBg taxes
and whereas the revenues OF the Common
wealth with the present rate OF taxation
| (Which is the highest that should be i'm
posed will not enable the Common ealth
to maintain its governmental organization by
paying the necessary expenses incident
thereto lnderss the most rigid system of
economy, and to discharge its consti.
tutional obligation to the system of
the free schools ordained by funda-
mental law OF this Commonwealth,
and to pay the present rate OF interest
ON the amount claimed as the. princi-
| pal Of the public debt; and whereas the
preservation Of the State government is alb
solutely necessary, not only for the protec-
tion of the person and property OF the citi-
zen OF the Commonwealth, but for the pre-
servation OF the rights and the promotion
of the interest Of the creditor OF the Com
monwealth therefore
Be 1T enacted By the General Assembly,
I. That on all lots or tracts and lots of Ian d
and the improvements thereon not exempt
ed from taxation, and on oil personal pro-
perty and chooses in action, and on all toll
bridges and ferries, there shall be tax
l. OF twenty-five cents on every 800 Of
the assessed value thereof, which shall be
collected only in lawful money of the United
States for the exclusive purpose Of defray.
ing the necessary expenses of maintaining
the government Of this commonwealth, as
the said disbursement may be directed BY
proper appropriation acts Of the General
Assembly.
2. or ten cents on every 800 Of the
assessed value thereof for public free
school purposes, which shall be collected
only in lawful money OF the United States,
and shall be paid into the Treasury to the
credit OF the public free-school fund, and
shall he used for no other pupose whatso-
ever.
8. or fifteen cents on every $10O Of the
assessed value thereof for general purposes
and to pay the interest on the public debt. .
II. 1t shall be the duty Of the Auditor Of
Public Accounts to have prepared as soon
as practicable the necessary books for the
commissioners of the revenue, with suti-
cient and appropriate columns for designa-
ting and setting apart the several taxes
hereby levied for the objects and purposes
herein recited. .T -
III. 1t shall be the duty OF the treasurers,
or other collecting officers Of the counties,
cities, and corporations OF the. Common.
wealth, as-soon as the commissioners of the
hH 1s 4sEsr @aas os heE aRbo b9a of Il Wsb
shall be specified the amount OF tax levied
for each of the purposes above named, and
shall keep the same separate and distinct
from each other upon the books OF their
offices; the said treasurers or other collect.
ing officers shall, as soon as said books are
delivered to them and the said tax-bills
made out, proceed to collect the same as
now required by law, and pay into the trea.
sury the amounts so collected by them.
". The collectors Of the public revenue
shall in every respect conform to the re-
quirements OF section 3 Of this act in col
lecting and remitting said revenue, and
upon failure thereof shall be proceeded
against in the same mode as is directed
against the treasurers or other collecting
officers OF the counties or corporations by
existing laws.
v. This act shall be in force from its
passage. ,.
| In the preparation of this bill Mr.. Bar
bour had the counsel OF Senator Fulkerson,
Mr. Grimsley chairman of the Senate Fl
nance Committee), Speaker Allen, Mr.. Har.
rison of Sussex, and of other members oi
the General Assembly, and also of Attor.
ney-General Field and James Neeson, Esq,
of this city.
Mr.. Barbour, besides being the chair.
man of the House Finance Committee, is
the chairman Of the business committee oil
the Simon-Pure Readjusters, and in this
matter doubtless utters the sentiments OF
| that party. ..
The above is to be followed by bill
proposing to pay three per cent. interest.
| Such bill now in course of preparation
| by the subcommittee of the Simon-P Pures'
business committee seeks to place all class
\ oc nf aroiifors ON n Qn1al fnnfin ; q n
provides for issuing a three-per-cent. regis.
tered bond with interest payable semi-an-
nually ut the treasury in exchange for the
tpeeler and consol bonds; in fact, for all
classes of the public debt. One third OF
all the unfunded and old debt is to be set
apart for. West Virginia. To make these
new bonds more attractive and to induce
the exchange OF outstanding. bonds for
them, the bill will probably provide that all
the license-tax, including the revenue de.
rived from the Moffett register, shall be col.
lected in money and set apart for this pur.
pose, and no other. 4-{
The principles OF the bill have been
agreed upon. The only difficulty is how
to arrange the till so ss to- equalize the
peelers and consol coupon-bonds as to the
excess of interest collected by the coupon
holders over the peelels by reason OF the
tax-receivable feature. ..,s.! ie5.. d. /. I.
Some OF the readiusters are in favor OF
permitting the corisol bondholders to fund
at the present face-yalue, and others are in
favor OF going back and estimating the ex.
cess of interest over three per cent. collected
by them, and deducting that from the
amount OF principal they shall be allowed
to fund. The bill, will, however, doubt
less provide for the funding Of the
whole debt at its present face-yalue,