The item., 1900-01-27


For the further support of the state
government and the public schools
S174,397.47 was paid through the
comptrollers and treasury departments
that is to say by
Insurance companies .$lOO,ol5 OIL
ToIenhona comnanies .. 2,485 75
Palace car companies 5,ooz 20
Express companies ......... 1855 IL
Railroad passenger tax (ayer-
age per mile 1919. 4I'OO4 ~
Telegraph companies ....... 1000 OI
Commercial agencies ....... sou w
&C. oo,o+,ov SO 81
One hundred and eleven thousand,
three hundred and two dollars and SIX
tv-six cents was paid for similar pur-
pose through the state department as
follows:
Franchise taxes .............$ .$ol'Ioo %
Fees for filing charters ...... 2l,o4Z oO
Court reports and books. 6,S64 81
Certified copies of records -. S44 ~
Commissions to officers, less
| postage ...,........' '.'' OH 10
From the occupation tax upon liquor
and beer dealers the revenue derived
was $646,150, from that on merchants,
s152 .O83.25, and from that on all 9TH
ers. S143,467.83. From the railways was
nrocured the sum total of 1916, ,926.84, or
s34.97 for every mile of main track. 1t
cannot but be observed that Of the rev.
enue accruing to the treasury through
the sources named and aggregating 81
| 059, ,346. 80, that paid by real estate alone
amounted to $2,20S, ,O60.61, or to more
than one-half, and that paid by real
estate and dealers in liquors and beer
combined to $2,854 ,210.61, or to nearly
three-fourths of the entire amount. The
gravity OF the question becomes the
more serious when it is considered that
for the support of the county and NUM-
cipal governments the burden on land
is made much weightoer than for state
purposes-the average tax rate thereon,
state and county, being ninety-seven
cents on the one hundred dollars. IN
cities and towns the average rate for
municipal purposes is eighty-five cents,
making the total average on city and
town lots 1882 on the hundred dollars.
or nearly two per cent of their value.
Let him who can successfully defend
the present system of taxation.
Prior to the late civil war, the public
revenue was principally derived from
a general property Of ad Valorem tax,
supplemented by very moderate tax
on occupations. The system was there
fore simple. Corporations were then
but few In number, and were almost eX-
clusively OF semi-public character. Our
people were generally employed in agri-
culture. and the administration of gov
ernment was inexpensive.
Our present Constitution prepared the
way for the easy charter of corpora
tions, and the legislature has respond
ed by allowing them for almost every
conceivable purpose. There were on
January 8, 1900, doing business In this
state, not including railway companies,
banks and associations Of a purely edu-
cational religious and benevolent char
acter, 2,095 organizations chartered un-
der our own laws, and with an author
lied capital stock amounting to $751;
740, ,340-being 507 more than were on
January l, 1S9S Their number is con-
stantly increasing.
In addition, there were also then 387
foreign corporations, of similar charac-
ter, permitted to do and now doing
business in this state, with an author
iZed capital stock of 1928, ,523, ,027.50.
The advalorem tax rate for state pur.
poses in 1S60-the year next before
the commencement of the civil war
was twelve and one-half cents on the
one hundred dollars upon an assess
ment of $204, ,315,659. The present az
valorem rate is thirty-eight cents or
the one hundred dollars, on an assess
ment in 1898, of $S54,619,365. The
amount of revenue from occupation
taxes, in 1860, is not ascertainable.
The population in 1860, excluding
slaves, was 420,891. 1t is estimated tc
, be at present more than three millions
One of the accepted maxims in politica
economics is that as the wealth ant
, population Of state increases the rate
of taxation and public expenditure pei
capita should correspondence decrease
T This rule, however, cannot and will no
obtain where every character of prop
erty is not required to bear its jus
share Of the public burdens, and where
a careful economy is not practiced il
the disbursement of the general funds
1t is, in my judgment, to the want O
a proper system of taxation that thu
present ad valorem rate is due. Fo
more than thirty years we have beer
depending, almost altogether, upon tn,
method observed prior to the civil war
without conforming to the changed con
ditions.
The records of the courts, civil AM
criminal, show that the far greater por
tion of their tine is consumed in tn
adjudication of cases in which rights a
to personal property and wrong
against it are alone involved. 1t is bu
, seldom, nowadays, that title to O
trespass upon real estate becomes
. matter Of litigation, or that a crimina
action, with which it Is directly or in
I directly connected, is instituted An
so as to expenditures in the differen
> branches of the executive department.
Notwithstanding these facts, persona
. and corporate property, it must be ad
s mitted, has altogether failed to yiel
to the demand for just and equitabl
system of taxation. 1t has, not onl
here but elsewhere, successfully evade
3 every effort to enforce its equitable con
Z tribution to the support of the govern
0 ment. AS to this there can be no di
vision Of sentiment The tax rolls c