Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1899-02-16
THE DELINQUENT TAX LAW.
Editor OF The Times

OIL see from your Columns that
you favor the law now in force in this
State for collecting State taxes, known
as the LAND grabbers' law There
is one feature of it concerning which
l desire to make some inquiries. and l
will bring out this feature by a case in
point? A very poor widow with two
children owns the small house in which
she lives in this city, upon which she
owed taxes amounting to $40. But
she was informed that some one had
made application to pay these taxes
and that she would have 20 pay this
person the sum of IS and would also
nave to pay the costs, so that the sum
total of her Indebtedness was $1S ill.,
stead of SO. the amount she owed The
State. This woman, by going out and
sewing, or by doing any sort Of work
she could find, and by sending out one
of her little boys to work where he
could, barely secure bread for herself
and children. But this law required
her to put SIS into the pocket of some
one who probably was already rich,
because, forsooth, he had put i'll all APP
pllcatiOn to pay her taxes. Now, What
| desire to ask is, why should this law
have any such feature as this ! Is 1t
necessary If so, | shall be silent,
but it not, it is my purpose to aenOunce
it.
1nasmuch as yon have advocated
this law, l suppose you understand ii
and possibly can throw some light on
this point. | wish to be sure of my
ground before | take an aggressive
position against it.
b. M. BECKuAM.
Richmond, Va, Feb. 10, 1899.
The above letter was written to the
Richmond Times, which is an advO-
cate of the Land Grabbers" act. 1t
is but one of the very many cases OF
hardship which the retrenchment and
reform legislature by its remarkable
presence placed on the people of Viz
ginia, and which law the Governor
ought to have vetoed. There is no
reason why Virginia could not have
collected her revenues without grind
ing the poor to death. Everybody
knows that these penalties must in
ninety nine out of one hundred cases
be paid by the poor. Those who ad-
vocate this iniq uitous law look upon
the State as tyrant who at the cost
of blood and sweat, and If necessary
at the cost of life itself, must have her
tithes. The taxing power of a State
is permitted by its citizens, to be used
humaneiy, and the less onerous and
eXacting it is made the happier are
the people. But for some unknown
reason the reformers and retrench'
ers undertook to put on the
screws, and to Cypress the poor. Nc
one would have murmured had thu
State by its accredited officers. adopted
a firm but efficient mode of collecting
taxes. But when it turned the jot
over to syndicates and made trusts
permissible for such a purpose, theI
nature rebelled, and should rebel. VIZ
cited a case in this city where a pool
negro had bought a house not lons
ago and since this law was passed i
was discovered that the taxes Of 1877
had not been paid on the property, an(
he was forced to pay about $46 in re
demption, and that too, to one of these
Virginia synaicates. Here the STATE
had let her taxes lay uncollected TO
tWenty-one years. Any creditor Wh(
did such a thing should should hav'
lost the debt There may be persons
who can defend the collection of taxes
but there are few certainly who Cal
defend this mode So far as Augusts
and Staunton are concerned the mex
members of the Legislature from thest
parts will have their instructions OF
this before they get their nominations
1t was proposed, We learn, by tie pat
rOns of this bill to make the fee SO il
each case Suppose they had done Sc
what cavern would have been dark
enough in which they could hide
themselves from public scorn.