The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1912-07-26

, eral for the state, sixteen distric
attorneys general, nearly every
county has an attorney, and from
all these we surely can Obtain
enough legal talent SO that the EN-
ployment of back tax attorney
under this act will be wholly un
necessary. believe that both thu
delinquent revenue acts and the
4 back assessment law should be un
conditionally repealed. They have
! both brought much evil and nc
corresponding benefits.
i | believe by all means the state
of Tennessee should have a state
tax commission, which will devote
its whole time to equalizing as.
sessments, which now vary from
rs per cent in some counties to rs
per cent in others, and this COM
mission should be composed Of
men Of the very highest type. ]
believe further they should be
clothed with power to audit the
public records of this state and Of
its various county officials, in the
same manner that a national bank
examiner examines a national
bank.
/ believe further that under
proper safeguards the rate of tax
alton in Tennessee should be lin
tied to about one dollar plus a
rate sufficient to cover interest
and sinking fund provisions on
municipal or county bonds. This
[ believe will automatically in
crease the assessment to full value.
tits going to be exceedingly diff
ficult to have any far-reaching re-
forms in our taxing system with
out a revision of our constitution.
1t is also going to be difficult to
distribute equitablv the cost OF
government without this being
done. Salaries and fees are in
equitably distributed in Tennes-
see. We find mere ministerial Of
ficials receiving annually large
and exorbitant fees, sometimes the
clerk Of the court receiving two
or three times as much as the pre-
siding judge. In the smaller coun-
ties Of the state the fees Of some
of the county officials are insig-
nificant, and those counties have
been forced to 60 to the legisla-
ture and ask for special appropria-
tions in order to adequately COM
pensats their officials. The trustee
in one county receives $500 a year,
while the same. official in another
county will receive from $4,000
to $4,000 q year-and SO on
through the list. Thus these posi-
tions are made political footballs.
In recent years there has been
much said in Tennessee about po-
litical machines. Some Of them
have been real, many have been
imaginary, but no state in the
Union affords more inviting OPP
portunity for a political machine
than does Tennessee with her
back tax laws.
Another question with which
the people Of this state are vitality |
concerned is, the refunding Of the |
state debt, which now natures in
less than year. It has been
charged that because I have had
some experience with financial
matters, and know some of the
channels through which these
bonds must be placed, that /
should not be elected governor,
by inference suggesting that tho
more incompetent a man, and the
less he knows about these things,
the more fit he would be to aid
in refunding the debt Of great
state like Tennessee. Probably
the state affords no more striking
example Of the lack Of business
Judgment in the administration OF
its affairs than in not taking ad-
vantage OF the opportunity it had
some twelve or fourteen years ago
to refund the state debt, extend
ing it for an average period of
twenty years beyond maturity at
the same rate, which would have
in a saving to the people
Of this state Of between two and
three million dollars in interest.
believe the purchasing of bonds
under the sinking fund act should
be resumed.