The weekly Floridian. [volume] (Tallahassee, Fla.) 1867-19??, 1882-02-21

cOHpQFduS| sense. Drew lowered The rate for
pure political effect with The full knowledge that
the deficiencies which he creating would
have to be met by increased taxation in future
years. The act was q blind, deserving censure
instead Of credit. To bring The rate from 12 Ia
mills was in his eyes brilliant political stroke,
and he would have been deserving of great credit
if he had induced the Legislature TO have made
corresponding reductions in its expenses and APP
preparations, so that the State could have been
kept on a cash basis AT mills. To which they
further lowered the rate.-Key Of the Gulf
We are glad to see that the Key ad-
mits at last that taxes scere lowered; but
it is mistaken in surprising that the low
ering was for political effect or was in
any sense :" a blind" 1t was done because,
even without any increase in taxable re-
sources, expenses could be met with
mill tax and ,cere met, and the contin-
uance Of the rate imposed by the Repub-
licans, or an approach to it, would have
been an inexcusable outrage on the peo-
pie. 1t was measure of relief without
reference to politics. The " deficiencies -
the Hey speaks Of did not occur under
the mill rate but under the mill rate
fixed in 1879 by the Legislature, and they
would not have occurred even under that
rate had the reasonable expectations of
not only Governor Drew but Of the Leg
isature, that a fair return of taxable
property would show a respectable in
crease over the previous years, been re-
allied. But this was not the case. The
tax books of 1878, the year in which
Governor Drew reduced the rate from 10
to mills, the having in 1877 reduced the
rate from I2t to 10Y showed return of
s29,47l,227, and in 1879, after the Leg
islature had made the tax I mills, the
books only showed return of S29, $751;
1913, and in the following year QssO) the
return was $3I, l57,846 Thus the re-
turns for these two years, being much less
than was expected, caused deficiencies "
which the Legislature of 1881 endeavored
to provide for by increasing the tax tenn
porarily to mills, rather than 90 back
to the ruinous scrip system" The re-
turn for 1881 will show over S35 900, 600
on the tax books, exclusive Of the value
of certain railroads whose liability to tax
alton will be tested in the courts, and if
the State is successful in establishing
this liability, the return will swell to
over $36,O00,O0O. The rate now, as the
Key probably knows, is : mills, the Coy
ernor having exercised the discretionary
power wisely lodged in him by the Legs-
ture and restored the tax to what it was
made in 1879; and we think now it may
be safely assumed that the days of com
paratively high taxation are over Either
from deficiency in the tax laws or ineffi
cheney in their enforcement, millions of
property, which ought to have contribu-
ted its proportion, has escaped taxation.
In 1875, the books showed nearly mil
lion more than the same books exhibited
in ls8O-fve years later. Last years
return is the first instance of an approx
nation to real values, and this year We
over the past, and this to continue year
by year, taxation meantime proportion
ately diminishing. until we approximate
the light burthens of the old DAYS.
The effect of Governor Drew's act in
1877 and 1873, in taking the response
bility of suspending the collection of a
considerable portion of the taxes assessed
for those years, which the Key alleges
was for pure political effect !" and I" was
ablind," gave great relief to the people.
Those we re the two first years of his adj
ministration, aud by comparing the results
with the two first years of the Hart
Stearns rule, (ls7s'4,) our contemporary
will not fail to be struck with the fortu-
nate outcome of Governor Drew's act.
Let us compare the taxes assessed in
1874, under the Republican rate, with
the /" for pure political effect " rate fixed
by Governor Drew in '77-'7s: