The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-08-04
DIR. FALLIeANrs RECORD.
7, the Matter of Municipal Taxation.

7, the Matter OF Municipal Taxation.
Edit or Morning Net0s: The recent decis-
IONS of the supreme court of Georgia set
ding the questions Of taxation so that all
,roperty, both real and personal. shall bear
ia lust share OF he public burdens, are the
SnsI culmin ations of battles which | in
anourated sh ortly after the close of the war
botween the st ates, and which have taken
generation to ACC omplish.
Studying with some care the municipal
.ey ordinances found that in the SOS and
perhaps the earlier '70's, real estate was
much as personal property, in the
torn of Understanding bonds, stocks, etc.
In other words real estate was taxed 81 per
cant. Cd its values, whist bonds and stocks
we're only taxed 4 per cent on the income.
Tina effect of this was that OIL 900 in real
state paid tax of $25. whilst 81, 900 in
ner cent bond paid 80 cents. So gross an
,niustice as this could not stand the fire of
nnhIic criticism; and after l had exposed
h IN a series of articles in the MORNING
NEWS the ordinances were SO modified that
real estate was let off with q municipal tax
~ about seven or eight times as much as
personal property. Subsequently 2L per
rant on real estate, and three-tenths Of
ner cent. on personal property. 1t was at
This figure found it when | entered council
IN 1889.
When the tax ordinance for 1890 was be-
ing prepared insisted that all property
should be taxed ad valorem and at the same
rate Of taxation. A test case was made and
the supreme court of the state sustained the
position taken by me when | asked the
question, "Why should one mans dollar
nav any more tax than another mans dol
iarn And the result Of that issue was that
an enormous burden was lifted from real
estate and put where 1t properly belonged,
that is, on personal property, which was as
able as, if not ADLER than real estate to
bear it.
The taxable value of the real estate in the
city being, in round numbers, $50 600, 900, a
tax Of "a per cent. was calculated to yield
S450,000 Deducting the usual 10 per cent.
discount for prompt payment, and the net
tax TO be collected was still $405.000.
The first result of this grand fight for
Justice to real estate was a reduction of the
rate of taxation TO 119 per cent, making
gross tax of $500, 900 on real estate instead
Of $3.50 ,O00-in other words a reduction of
S150000 in the amount of taxes assessed on
real estate for the year; and, disoounting
10 per cent, a net relief of $135, 600 per an
mum on basis of s20, 600. 900 property.
This fight was a much greater one in
amounts than the ground rent fight; and it
surprised me that SO many owners of that
class of realty overlooked the immense saw
ing had secured for them by the reduc-
ton in the general rate Of taxation, actu-
ally lifting a burden of S195, 900 per annum
from real estate, whilst they were quarrel
ing because [ demanded that they the
ground rent men. as they called themselves)
should bear their Just share and not be per-
mitted to shift it on to the banks, lner-
chants and others, who were now required
to pay their full proportion. In other
words, by the illegal exemption of so-called
ground rent lots, the other real estate and
personal property had been made to pay over
$4,000 per annum more than their
just share to make up the deficiency, and
under the ordinances of 1890 and 1891
would still be overtaxed about $4,000 l
could see no justice in this.
The first of the series of articles written
by me in relation to the taxation of the So
called ground rent lots appeared in the
MORNING NEWS in December, 1871, or
thorities taken hold of the question then, as
they should have done, the other taxable
property OF the city would have been saved
an overtax of $4,000 per annum for
eighteen years, or total overtax OF $780,
900, besides interest, which would have been
equal to niue years on the gross amount, or
S4o3,oOO interest; making a total loss or
oVertax TO the other taxpayers OF 81, 600
in eighteen years.
These startling figures represent, in dol
lars and cents, what the other taxable prop
erty OF the city has suffered in that length
OF time at the hands of David Wells ct al. ;"
and the amount David Wells ct al" have
saved at the expense of other taxable prop
erty, whilst the public treasury, which
should have received this amount, has not
even had brokers commission out of it.
No wonder ''DaVid Wells at al would like
to have Kept the thing going on indefinitely.
These figures represent what they have lie
gally squeezed out of their fellow taxpayers
for their own benefit by their exemption of
the so-called ground rent lots alone.
Now let US see how much approximately,
real estate has suffered during the same
period. 1t is fair to assume that the real
estate has averaged 5000, 900 during the
past twenty years. and the personal prop
erty IS ,000,O00-tnow $l2,Oo0,0O0). For
some years real estate WAS taxed twenty
seven times as much as personal property,
as | have already shown. But coming
down to seven times as much only, real
estate has paid about 800, 900 year, on an
average, more than it should justly have
done, or 81, 900, 900 overtax, besides interest,
which would aggregate about 81 400 900
more
In substance, if my views had been car
rled out during the past twenty years the
real estate owners would have saved in
taxes unjustly collected from them, wish
the interest on their savings, SO ,40O, 600.
My friend Mr.. r. D. Guerard, in one of
his public articles, declared that real
estate had no good advocate" in the last
council. think the above figures, and the
results accomplished, justify very differ
ent conclusion. LOUIS A. FALLIGANT.