Carthage courier. (Carthage, Tenn.) 1913-current, 1921-03-24
SPEECH OF SENATOR McGINNESS
PERSOAL PROPERTY TAX BILL

would not be affected by this law I'M
less it be in renewal of a pre-exisiting
debt. Provision is made for assess
ment of notes of doubtful value at
less than face value, it being required,
however, that should the full amount
of the note be afterward collected, the
owner of the note shall pay the ac-
crued or back tax due thereon.
AS stated, this bill does not seek to
increase the revenue of the state, but
to f'level up" so to speak, our ''lop-
sided" assessment situation in Ten
nessee; to distribute the pressure; to
require all classes of property to share
IN the burdens of taxation, rather than
impose practically the whole burden
upon real estate as is now the case.
To illustrate: If 100000 of
personally had been assessed in 1920
instead of the $181, 100000 which was
assessed, our total assessment would
have been $2,500,000,0OO instead of
100000, 600. The result would have
been a State tax rate of less than
tWenty-one cents instead of twenty
six cents Of the $5,200,00O of State
tax collected for the year 1920 about
S4,OOO,000 would have been paid by
those taxpayers whose property was
actually listed and a little more than
81 100000 by the personality which
should have been but was not assess
ed. The person who pays 500 of
State tax for 1920 would pay less than
$50, had this personally been assessed.
1t goes without saying that this
| property will continue to escape tax
alton until this or some other equally
! effective means shall be found to re-
quire its owners to list it with the as
| SCISSORS. Now, we come to the ques-
/ ton, shall they be required to do so?
| If so, it is up to us to find the means
/ of accomplishing this result. l insist
that there can be no justification for
our failure to take affirmative action
| in this regard.
First, in order to effectuate the
plain mandate of the constitution, as
/ hereinbefore set out. Failure upon the
part of the Legislature to take action
in this particular is to nullify the con-
stitutional requirement that all prop
erty shall be taxed according to its
value.
Second, because it is right to require
owners of this character of property
to list it for taxation and indeinible
not to do so.
Bear in mind that owners of person
atty have $1,000 exempt from taxation
while the real estate owner has none
This is one strong reason why he
should pay tax on his property of this
kind above $1,000. Again, it is a mat
ter of common knowledge that in any
community the majority of men who
have accumulated property and "got
/ RICH" as we say, are the men who
have been money lenders and dealt in
notes, mortgages, etc. In other words
the class of property sought to be
L. L. H. IL <yr,lr
able of all classes as a revenue pro-
I Queer. Especially now, since the pas
/ sage of the percent law, is thus true,
The Nashville Banner on yesterday
published an editorial in opposition to
! this bill The Banner is a splendid
newspaper, ably edited, but not al
ways convincing and not always con-
sistent. This newspaper for the past
two years has been unsparing in its
criticism of those opposing the So
called tax laws. / have approved it's
attitude on the cash value assessment
of property and its advocacy of tax
equalization. But l say, Mr.. Speaker,
that the Banner cannot oppose this
measure and at the same time stand
for equalization in taxes for the sole
reason that this is the sole purpose of
this bill and would be the result of its
cooperation This editorial holds out
the idea that this bill, if enacted into
law, would operate to invalidate and
destroy the negotiablity of all notes,
etc.
Think of it, Mr.. Speaker. We are
told that for a public official to make
a notation. on a note to the effect that
the constitutional requirement that the
note should be listed for taxation has
been observed would invalidate the
note!
/ take it that no member of this
Senate will be frightened by this sort
of an absurd proposition.
1t is also said that the passage of
this bill would paralyze business. /
deny it. 1t would doubtless severely
shock this gentry that has been get
ting by" without payment of taxes,
but | deny that it would impair or
even inconvenience any business or
any individual who is willing to pay
his just share of taxes.
New, we have had the real estate
men, realtors" they call themselves,
from Knoxville and Chattanooga and
Nashville and Memphis and other
places swarning around the capitol
for the past two weeks in an effort
TO defeat this bill. They appeared be-
fore the Committee during the recess
and the burden of their song was that
the State permitted them to collect
only six per cent interest and that
they would have to go out of business
if required to pay tax on their notes.
Of course, everybody knows that the
matter of interest on their notes is a
mere incident with real estate people,
that their real income is from profits
on their deals, and also it is matter
of common knowledge that they do
not always confne themselves to a six
per cent rate of interest. But these
matters aside, they say to the State of
! Tennessee, "don't you dare lay your
hands on our notes for the purposes
of taxation. If you do, we viii leave
your confines" / say, Mr.. Speaker,
if these men can't do business in Ten
nesSee and hear q fair share of the