The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1919-05-25
REVENUE BILL
Was BONE OF
CONTENTION


revenue Dill Wn1cn passed yesterday
was a bone of contention in the house. |
1t is committee bill, prepared by the |
house and senate committees working |
together, and contemplates soI.e rather |
radical changes in the present method |
levying, collecting and making final
settlement on tax books. Early in the
session the house passed a. resolution
setting forth that this bill should be
presented much earlier in tn esession,
and that it should be disposed OF not
later than the goth of the present
month. Then it is presumed that most
of the members forgot about the mat
ter. for it was about the last named
date when the bill found its way to the
calendar.
The committees have been hard at
work on it for some time, however,
and have made up a bill they are
proud of. To keep It from being
riddled with amendments they are
making q strong fight. But the mem
bers of the house are of the opinion
many of the old provisions as wen as
some of the proposed new ones are in
need of changes. and they are chew
ing on the bill section by section.
The fight to hold the bill intact is be-
ing conducted by Messrs. Epperson,
of Levy and Weaver, of Taylor coun-
the opposition to its provisions is be-
ing championed by Mr.. ellis, of Wal
ton county.
All three of these gentlemen are
scrappers who fight to the last ditch,
, and the progress of the bill is neces-
sarily slow.
The very first attack made on r
bill was by Mr.. ellis. He tried to s.
out of section 8 these words: nd
no act error or omission on the art
of any officer shall operate to vitiate
such lien" meaning tax lien. IT .on-
tention of Mr.. ellis was that
provision would make officers relesss
in these matters. and he maze a hard
fight to strike it out, but failed
The next amendment was offered
| by Mr.. Barber of Baker county, to
| save to the comfy of Bradford the
| taxes now being paid to that county
/ on the state prison farm lands. The
l amendment was finally Incorporated
in the bill, but not until there had,
been a right pretty little scrap over
| 1t. During the controversy, Mr. Crews
referred to the gentleman from Bay.
Mr.. Stokes, as always swapping at
| everything" This was the occasion
| of Mr.. Stokes rising to a point of
4 personal privilege at the beginning of
the afternoon session, and paying his
| respects to Mr.. Crews
/ After the announcement of the vote
on the state farm taxing amendment
Mr.. Stokes, still smarting under what
he thought was an undue reflection
| upon him, moved to strike out all of
section T. This is the section exempt
ing from taxation all re al and personal
property of the state, the churches and
all charitable institutions. After his
in Sl1T1 ear~f Of ~
Mr.. Bryan of Osceola quietly moved
| to table the amendment without an
other word being said. The motion
| carried.
! In the exemption of church property
frmo taxation Mr.. Crews got the house
to accept an amendment cutting down
the exempted land to one acre for each
s church.
In the provision exempting the prop
erty of widows Mr.. Moore offered
to the verbiage of the constitution. The
provision had not been changed any
further than to let in all widows de-
pendent upon their own exertions, but
the house thought it best to stick to
the constitutional provision, .Who have
a family dependent upon them for sup
port.
>, Mr.. McRae tried to exempt all those
!. afflicted with chronic disease, along
: with those who are exempted on ac-
count of misfortune, but the sugges-
. ton was tabled on the motion of Mr.
t Jarmon.
To insure against double taxatiar
( Mr. Jarmon tried to make the bill more
explicit as to taxing the capital stock
of corporations, where lands of such
corporations represent such capita
= stock. This failed, but Mr.. ellis sue
I cessfully attacked the same provision
Mr.. Bryan, of Osceola county, pro.
posed to strike out all of section nine
s: of the bill and the house acted upor
;. his suggestion This section referred
9 to banks and trust companies having
in their possession monies or securi-
ties intended for investment to re.
| turn the same for taxation.
In the section taxing boats, Mr.. Gil1is
attacked a feature which might b,
construed that. these should listed fol
taxation at the place where they belong
and at the place where they are regis
tered or enrolled.
Mr.. Busto. of Monroe county tried
but failed. to get the house to exemp
| the small fishermen from the tax
Mr.. Chavos and Mr.. Greene boil
had amendments to enforce the pay
Il ment of poll taxes. They both failet
with little discussion.
Mr.. ScruggS failed in an effort t
strike from the bill that provision re
quiring the tax collector to make tw'
trips over the county for the purpos
of collecting taxes, and that the in
tinery shall be published in som
newspaper in the county.
Only one laugh was pulled on the bi
during the whole of the time it wa
under consideration. In that part c
the bill naming animals which shall b
taxed, Mr.. Bryan offered and the hous
accepted an amendment including dog,
Mr.. Futch, of Lake county, immedi
| ately added: t.And Cats. The mo