The weekly Floridian. [volume] (Tallahassee, Fla.) 1867-19??, 1881-02-08

- Ut~8o TAX MNNs f
We nosscs y o. Journal. a ~ IegislaAe
nat Mr. Chas Il Eilan - lnir6dpc6A 4 Oh p
provide Or ne lsvyi ofals pr csnass 49,
q taxetion upon O $1,000 vallaiioe u 30
6GxAbls properly ~ ~ et.ts. II IN gOv,dss
thal ne CcmptroIleF, with ne assistanos Of the
GovsEnor and he State Treasures, shall BE- .
SKATE Asssssmsnt Boafd. whose duty Il win be 70
aggregate The amount OF the assslDed valuation
Of the lsxahle pscperty Of The Stats. md. less
tn Per cent, make calculation Is % what per
osntags has BEEN appropriated for each paRticu-
lar year By NE Legslatnse
The amendment Of The revenue law Of the
State b important, because II II evident that the
credit Of the State cannot be maintained under
Tie old system. Il was expelled by the Lrgisla-
tnre Of 1879, when Il provided the new method
for assessing the valuation Of taxable property,
that Il would be largely in excess Of previous
years, and, therefore, that greatly decreased
and that enough would be collected to maintain
The States credit But the new law Of assess-
ment has failed TO operate a. expected, and too
little money has been collected, and the credit
Of the State = In jeopardy.
II h expected that some new law Of assess-
ment win be enacted at the present session Of
the Legislature. Those who suggest the new
law, Of course, win expect great things Of IT, -
those did who suggested the assessment law OF
1879; bat 1t d an experiment amer all. Before
the assessment Of the taxable property Of the
State 10 completed 1t cannot be told whether the
State win have only little more than thirty-one
millions Of taxable property to collect taxes on
or whether 1t win have forty or iorty-fve mil
lions, and consequently she Legislature cannot
make judicious levy Of the per centage rate Q
taxation.
fthe revenue law Il changed 90 that the per
centage rate Of taxation Is to be levied by the
| Governor and certain members of his Cabinet Of
administrative officers the disadvantage of q
| failure Of an assessment law to increase the
assessed valuation of the taxable property will
be done away with, and the necessary revenue
of the State secured by an increase in the pei
centage levied. On the other hand, II Q new
assessment law were to work the remedy desired
by affecting . just and proper assessment Of thu
values of taxable property and thus largely
increase the sources of revenue for the State, no
% large per centage oftaxation would need t
be levied in order to obtain what was needed Il
carry on the State government on a cash basis
More than this, 1t may be pointed out that it i
impossible to secure an equalization of the lev,
OF the per centage rate of taxation while there i
difEererence in the expenses Of the government
when one year IL compared with another. For tn
year 1881, for instance, the State must pay tn
expenses Of the Legislature, in 1882 there will b
no session. consequently more money is needed il
1881 than win be needed in 1882. If more mon
ey ID needed for one year than for another NOR
money ought TO be collected for the year 70
which it is needed. This can be easily accom-
plished by making State Assessment Board
whose duty II will be TO make levy Of the rat
Of taxation upon assessed valuations for particu
lar years.
We hope the bill offered BY Mr. Fildes win
| nANaA6