The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-06-18


 WILLIAM FLYNN
 In Pittsburg, where William Film
 has lived all but five months of his sixty-one years, they don't know wha
 ,ctuated Colonel Roosevelt in sending i'm to Chicago, but they are sure it is lot on diplomatic mission or for any
 kind of a ladylike job. Finn is aI earnest worker and will aid the Colonel materially during the Convention. of Jefferson county If the raises which l they propose should be made effective l in Jefferson county. the states yearly rev enue from Jefferson county alone would i be increased almost $500,000. 1t is perfect | ly manifest from a statement of these figures that it is not the intention of the administration to make corresponding in creases in the other counties of the state
 but that their labors will largely begin
 and end in Jefferson county.
 Should Not Blame Jefferson The governor should not charge Jeffer- son county with the deficit nor even with one-half the deficit. He knew or should
 have known, what the revenues of the
 state were. He had the veto power, by which he could have stopped the appro- pirations being made by the legislature at l point within the revenues of the state He has charge of the administration or
 the tax laws of the state, and he could have set the tax commission to work Tn the fifty-six counties which draw from l the state annually, according to the last report of the state auditor, the enormous sum of s1,025,00O more than they pay | l.t~ %l- xrsith view of having these counties contribute their just proportion of the revenue of l the state.
 1 He could, in other words, have brought 1 these counties up to the standard of Jeff I ferson county before attempting to make this raid on Jefferson county. There is no reason from the standpoint of law or practicability which would make it neces- sary for the governor or the state tax commission to begin work in one county to the exclusion of others, and they night have begun their labors in 15 or 70 or these non-selfsupporting counties at one time, and have taken up the situation in Jefferson when these counties had been brought up to the standard of Jefferson county.
 But the governor says we have no right to consider what other counties are paying.
 Why It's Existence? If the state tax commission was not organized for the purpose of equalizing taxes in the whole state, then pray why its existence? We call the governors at tention to section 2223 of the code, which seems to set out the objects. purposes and powers of the state tax commission In paragraph 1 of this section, the tax com-
 mission is geven general and complete su- pervision over the assessment and collec- 1 ton of taxes, etc, of the state. and this | language is used: To the end that all assessments on property, privileges and franchises In the state shall be made in exact proportion to the just and true value thereof in substantial complained with the law And in paragraph 6, which gives power to the state tax commission to require persons, firms and corpora tions to furnish information concerning assets and liabilities. the following lan- guage is used: Tn order to enable the commission to ascertain the value and relative burden to be borne by every kind of property in this state And in para graph 10 of said section. which gives the | state commission power to investigate other tax systems than that of Alabama. and to formulate and recommend lesisla- tion. this language is used: And to se- cure just and equal taxation and improve ments of the system of taxation in this state.
  Clearly this law was not intended for Jefferson county alone. The law was not
 intended to supply a handy means of dis charging deficits. but was drawn for the purpose of seeing that all the counties in this state contributed their just and
 fair proportion to the reasonable expendi-
 lures of the state. It was not intended that this law should be spasmodic or par tial in it's operation; and it is of spas m, nd ioI for pf h
 which we complain. and of which we have a right to complain.
 "The present situation is well illustrated by the message of Governor Jelks to the legislature of Alabama at the session of 1907, in which, referring to the tax com
 mission laws of that date he said: The tax commission law is effective in increasing the assessment against few people in an average of one-half of the counties. It does not reach one person in hundred whose property deserves to be | raised Tn one-half the counties 1t is en- trely ineffective with any execution this administration could give it, and with any execution, indeed, it ever had at any | time since the passage of the act. The commission law has been more effec- l tive in securing unpaid licenses than in raising valuations or discovering escapes. l Curious to know what had been done. I have gone over the returns for 1 four years. covering the years of 1898,
 1899. and those of 1905 and 1906. I found that in 1898 in S1 counties there was either
 no back tax commissioner. or if there was such an officer. he made no raises and furnished no escapes In 1899 24 counties
 had To raises and reported no escapes. There were six other counties of the e | in which the tax from escapes and raises from the work of the commissioner
 amounted to less than saO in general state and special tax.
 :" For the past year find there have | been no raises and escapes from the com missioner in 35 counties. For 1905 there
 were no raises or escapes in 2S counties. It will. I am sure. appear to you at once that as present written in the books the
 law is only effective against few of the parties 1t ought to reach You will agree with me that 1t is most undemocartic to make fish of one and fowl of another. In some of the counties of the state the law has never operated for any one of the ten years which it has been on the
 books
 Tt will be apparent to anyone who cares to investigate the subject that the same troubles exist under the tax commission jaw at present. as were pointed out by Governor Jelks under the laws as they existed at the time of his message as