The Marietta journal. (Marietta, Ga.) 1918-1944, 1919-04-11

Any merchant, by satisfactorily
proving any Indebtedness incurred in
the purchase of said merchandise,
may deduct the amount of indebted
ness from the amount of purchases
before paying the tax. The tax shall
be as follows:
On all purchases by retail merchants,
Gents per 800.
On all purchases by wholesale and
commission merchants, Gents
per 500.
Counties and municipalities shall,
in lieu of the ad valorem tax now
used, levy upon this plan such addi-
tional taxes as their taxing officials
may deem advisable, varying the rate
per 500 to meet their special needs.
(See Virginia 1918 laws, page 75.)
(See Exhibit d.
Secured Debts
All debts secured by mortgage or
other paper of record, and which
re subject to taxation, shall be placed
in a separate class and taxed at
lower rate through mortgage re-
cording or registration tax.
Let oil secured debts taken to the
Clerk of the Superior Court for re-
cording, where mortgage is given,
or for registration where no mortgage
is needed, be exempted from all other
taxation, state or local, except as
hereinafter provided, by the payment
of a tax of ---cents on each $1OV|
face value for each year or fractional
part thereof covered by the life of
such debt.
This tax shall be paid by both resi-
dent and nonresident owners. 1t
shall be divided equally between the
state and the county where the IN
strument is registered or recorded.
Each municipality may levy an addl-
tional tax not exceeding Gents
per 500 on such secured debts where
the property covered by such lnstru-
ment is located within such munich
palitv. All renewals and extensions
shall be subject to the same tax and
same penalties as the original
Upon the passage of legislation
the owners of then-existing mortgages
adopting the above recommendations
or secured debts shall have the priv
ilege of presenting the securities to
the clerks of the Superior Courts IN
the county where the same may be
recorded, for registration, and upon
such registration shall receive all OF
the benefits and relief from other tax
alton as is provided above on such
securities. Provided, however, that
the information so obtained by the
registration of such indebtedness shall
not be used by any public taxing
authorities for the purpose of collect
ing back taxes on such securities so
registered. (See Exhibit Ed
Failure To List
In addition to the penalties now
provided by law for the omission OF
property, failure to list on the tax
roll evidence of any debt subject TO
taxation which has not paid the re
cOrdlng or registration IDA
for in this report shall be a bar TO
anv action upon the same in any
court, and may be pleaded as com
plete defense; provided that this snail
not apply to open accounts. Further
more, such omitted debt shall be re-
ouired to pay an extra inheritance
tax of five per cent upon its passage
to the legatees of its owner at his
or her death.
Tax Maps
We recommend that in order TO
encourage the counties to have tax
maps made the state make an open
proposition to pay one-half the cost
of making a tax map for any county,
provided the plans and costs are first
submitted to the State Tax Com
mission and approved by them.
Budget System
We recommend that the present
Budget and Investigating Committee
authorized by the last legislature, be