The weekly Floridian. [volume] (Tallahassee, Fla.) 1867-19??, 1883-01-02
COLLECTION OF TAXES.

COLLECTION
In my annual report of January lst 1882 took occasion
to refer to the prompnes and efficiency with which the
of 1880 had been collected 1t gratifying say that
the taxes of 1881 have been closely collected than
those of $780, the table of receipts into the Treasury
show.
The adopted by this office of keeping up the
strictly with accounting officers and furnishing monthly
statements of the condition of their and mpessin
upon them the Importance of regular returns and prompt
Elements while REQUIRES more Clerical force has been fonnd
to work most efficiently and has enaed less expense upon
the State than would be incurred sending
several counties to adjust and make settlements with
the officers found he necessary when the sy
TEN referred to not in practice
1t will not be ont of place in this connection that
within the last two years there has occurred but
delinquency the Collectors and the of
them IN suit and the other in of settlement Of the
ACCOUNTS FORMERLY REPORTED
have this say that during the past years the following
compromise settlements have been made in accordance with
the act of 1881 Chapter 3236 viz With the
John W. Butler late Collector of Revenue Santa Rosa county,
payment of s57S775 with K. j. Mzze late Collector
Polk county, payment of s45s; with the of W. r.
and all and fees and W. F. Burnam late Collector
ons'a county has paid so5 in part settlement of his
count Many Others of the old pending
courts, but nothing has been realized on them.
LICENSES
This report been the last two years.
large increase the occupation license causing the
revenue from this to up from $63 2374 in $780,
SO4 1852 in 1882 To avoid any msapprehenson the
the material change in the law in especto the liquor license
made by the last Legislature the license reports show that the
from the tax liquor dealers and other occupations
has increased at precisely the same ratio This better de-
monsated by taking u year under the old law say from
Oct 1872 to Oct $780, and year under the law say
from Oct l. 1884, to Oct 1892, the best periods for
ing the operation of bothO and appears that the
from liquor licenses during the year ending October $780,
I'm round numbers OOO and from all other licenses
$4,000 and that the from liquor licences during
year ending Oct 1882 500 and from all other cen
S48 0O0 making increase of II per cent. both
oil I'd
shows that this increase be reasonably attributed to the
business prosperity of the people.
refrain from adding that the of issuing and
reporting licenses provided by the last legislature has worked
WELL and has secured prompt and correct returns IT. however,
could be devised have all licenses the
day the year. it would insure efficient collection Of
this part Of the
INCREASE TAXABLE PROPERTY
The of the taxable of the State from
ymion lin round fgures) in the
strdng evidence of rapidly growing prosperity the
State remarked however that the
includes than three millions of Railroad property, for
which exemption claimed The question of the liability Of
the particular Railroads claiming immunity from taxation has
has been submitted the Courts of the State by suits brought
in compliance with resolution adopted the session Of
cases pending in the Supreme Court of the United
States appeal But without this there increase of at
least eleven millions Some of this increase may be attributed
to the fact that large number of lands have been listed the
last which escaped taxation heretofore account of the
difficulty of determining whether they private public
property The work undertaken about year ago of making
from the United States and State Land Offices lists of the
entries of public lands and furnishing them
for the of the Assessors has aided these officers materially
adding the land of such counties These
ss though inaccurate in respects on account OF the
haste In which they prepared to demonstrate the
importance of the work. and desirable that all the
ties should be provided with them and that those already
made should be revised and corrected hoped there
fore that the Legislature will provide the for compet
ing and perctng this work. that full assessment Of the
lands all the be had for is believed that such
result would still further augment the taxable resources of
the State.
APPROPRIATIONS
Jurors and witnesses less by than the
popated for that purpose for 1881 and 1882 This
warranted by the diminished expenses of the Courts
find necessary however to ask for IS 900 on
of the expenses of collecting This required
the the and the licenses
the last year. and many of the accounts pertaining to this
branch of expenditure for 1882 remain to be settled This
dtona only required for 1885, 1t not asked for 1854
is also deemed necessary ask for increase in the
contingent fund thousand dollars added because
the heretofore appropriated found to be insufficient for
the purposes for which the fund intended The admins
on of justice has been crippled for the want OF necessary
offering rewards and deayng for arrest
ing criminals for the only fund Of which that
other extraordinary and contingent expenses Of the State
be paid and should be made adequate to meet the
ces that lay arise.
RATE OF TAXATION.
The table for shows that the taxsbe val
uaons s5977 But, Is stated elsewhere
more millions of this upon Railroad property fo
which exemption claimed 1t s deemed safe, however t
paying property aud if the income from licenses not dmn
hed Of four mills the dollar y thought to be sum
raise the required TO deay the current ex
the State Government and meet the acung interes
on the boneed debt This estimate ID intended TO include
the constitutional tar Of mill for school purposes
have the honor v Be,
W. p. BArrn, conptroller