Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1916-03-17
TAX BILL DEFECTIVE,
Act Passed in Dying Hours Of Legis.
lature to Bring No Results

Richmond, Mlrch 1o-F FlSlonS Oh !
rich harvest for the school fund grow
ing out of the enforcement Of the
capitation tax bill that was passed
in the dying hours Of the Legislature
were in large degree dissipatec
when careful reading Of the act oy
the legal advisers of the Common
wealth disclosed provisions which will
make extremely dif'ichlt its apnl,ca-
tion.
The bill, introduced by Senator
Mathews, of Norfolk, and concrrreei
in by the House late Saturday night,
undertakes to provide machinery for
the forcible collection Of delinquent
capitation taxes that are more than
three years past due, with provisions
designed to prohibit the tax collector
from going back more than five years.
Under the Constitution poll taxes
| for the last three years are not COL
lectible by any process of law. 1t was
estimated by advocates of the Math-
ews bill that delinquent poll taxes
aggregating $1,266,000 would come
under its application, and that large
proportion of this amount would be
collected
The bill provides for the appoint
ment by the courts of delinquent capi-
tation tax collectors whose duty i.
shall be to enforce the collection b.
levy, garnishment or otherwise, of all
delinquent capitation taxes to be
turned over to him for collection in
the manner later described.
From the language of the Sd sec
ton it appears that while it was un-
questionably the intention Of the ra-
mers Of the bill to bring under the ap-
plication of the law all capitation
taxes delinquent for more tnan three
years, the bill as actually drawn and
passed confines the collector to list
of persons who are "as much as three
years and not exceeding five years
delinquent.
Under this provision person who
is delinquent for six years, seven or
ten years wGaiG not tome within the
scope Of the collectors powers. The
practical effect of the provision is 70
limit the application Of the tax to
those persons who are delinquent en-
actly four or FIVE years. If person
owes poll taxes for three years he is
protected against collection by any
process whatsoever, by the Constitu-
ton. If he owes for six years he does
not come within the definition of per-
sons who must be placed on the de-
linquent list.
Other defects in the bill render it
improbable that the act will be opera
tive, even as applied to this limited
class. The act provides that the de-
linquent capitation tax collector shall
be allowed 20 per cent Of all amounts
collected by him as compensation for
his work, and that the clerk of the
court shall receive 5 per cent of all
collections as compensation for max
ing out the delinquent lists.
The compensation provisions ap-
pear to come into conflict with the
Constitution itself. which provides in
section l73 that of the $3.50 capita
tion tax. 81 shall be applied "exclu-
sively" in aid of the public free
schools, and the residue returned and
paid by the State into the treasury
of the county or city in which it was
collected, for local purposes.
An attempt to deduct 25 per cent of
collections to pay the cost the ma
chinery of collection, as provided in
the bill it was feared yesterday by
lawyers who examined the act, would
be met with serious Constitutional
objections. An additional constitution
al difficulty is encountered in the sec
| tion which places on the delinquent
! list persons who are "as much as
three years" in arrears, since the Con.
stitution expressly guarantees the in
dividual against the collection, by any
process of law, of poll taxes delin-
quent for only three years.
IN MEMORIAM