Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1913-02-15
:.epENepSG EssssT LAWS.
sRndustrial Chaos Would Follow Their
q Fss Strict Enforcement.

II. ssS Stflct Enforcement.
$4;ti, 10y r pcs. 49, -.-. ~ 49,
ssss Richmond, Va; Feb. l5.-Terrifi
Indictment ofthe tax laws of VII
ginia >is4made in the report Of tn
special grand jury OF the Husting
4Court .fthe. City, of Richmond, whicl
has been in session four months,an'
which submitted It's report ,yesterda.
Ito Judge D. c. Richardson, All man
ner Of injustice and inconsistency j.
the taxing system laid bare, art
the blame for the situation is PLACED
on the members of the General As
3 senbly, who have consistently refused
to give to the people of the State
the reforms demanded from year tt
year.
81 In fact, so acute does the grand
Jury find the situation that unless
State officials give relief, such COM
-nunities as are honestly tryingt 9
do their duty in the matter Of as
sessments Knight. plausibly consider
themselves justified in falling to in
vestigate state taxes in the future
unless they wish to assume practical
,ly the whole burden of the States
expenses"
L..
%. AS a result of it's deliberations and
Investigations the following amounts
haye been added to taxable values on
the books of the. Commissioner of
the Revenue: Personal property, tan
gible and intangible, $1,256,429;
merchants purchases, s4,979,961; in
come, $S49,027; total, s6,s79,417.
g. In common with the many writer's
on the subject, the grand jury thinks
the system of taxing bonds and mort
cages distinctly unjust, involving
5dobule,, if not triple taxation on the
same values. 1t recommends a law
paterened,fir instance, after that of
New York, which requires payment of
specified tax to the clerk of one
half of one pier cent Of tn eproperty
conveyed in trust, this to be the last
payment to the State for the mort
gage.
Deposits of individual citizens In
banks, says the grand Jpry, should
not be taxed, nor should savings &C
counts. 1t points out the injustice
Of robbing the deserving and thrifty
people of moderate means by taking
more than half their interest income
for taxes.
More attention is paid by the grand
Jury to the subject of taxation Of cap
ital stock of companies other than
merchants capital. 1t would seem
that the almost unintelligible state
laws on subject require taxation OF
book accounts Considered good, plus
bills receivable, plus all merchandise
ON hand, plus real estate, separately
taxed. The jury was unwilling to
stand for this without deductlng what
might be called live liabilities, In
Guiding borrowed money and merch-
andise paid for. Many industrial
concerns do q large part Of their bus
mess on borrowed capital, and to
tax this borrowed money ON which IN
tarest is, paid, besides all other forms
of taxation, would speedily result, 1t
is argued, in driving the most import
ant enterprises from the state.
No wonder, thinks the jury, that
many business men regard evasion
not only pardonable, but necessary to
sef-presevation.
Losing patience with the laws az
they. stand, the report exclalms:
ave do not see how the State can
expect to exact a uniform tax wien
she appears to be trying to adopt
eighteenth century laws to twentieth
century business conditions"
The jury might recommend a tax
commission, it says, but such j BODY
with authority, to enforce the present
antiauated tax laws of the state'with
construction as to capital, credit
money, bonds, and income would te
disastrous. While for time it would
;mmensely increase the revenues Ii
1u;onld drive away or bankrupt half 'tS
industrial enterprises, resulting IN ~
dhstrial chaos.