The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-07-22
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TOO MUCH TAX TINKERING

TOO MUCH AA llANNGNAAN
 The almost unanimous manner in which the Alabama house rejected certain provisions of the revenue measure as prepared by the recess committee is a remarkable indlca- +jon that the supposedly long labors of the committee have failed to con- tribu+e to the states financial vel fare. Indeed, it seems that much ot This to-do over revenues and taxation is more or less of a smoke-screen raised to create the impression of wonderful activity and deep reflec- tion concerning a subject that IS either very simple or else is singularly mis- understood by those seeking to deal with it. The tax machinery as devised and operated under the previous ad- ninistration worked so well and pro- duced such excellent results, bringing the state out of it's floating indebted ness and establishing it on a cash basis, that studious men would pom der long and deeply before replacing it with legislative devices more or less experimental, and certainly not ap- neaIing to the average intelligence as possessing superior merit.
 Where previously the tax machinery was a balanced and harmoniously working whole, it is being made patchwork of disintegration that is a return to the old haphazard manner of dealing with taxes, instead of rep resenting progress towards still greater efficiency. It is hoped that there are vet those, either in the house or in the senate, who have actually made a study of successful tax policies, and who, if alterations there must be, will introduce provisions calculated to inn prove rather than impair Alabama's tax enactments. Certainly it is finan' cial folly to cause this state to revert to discredited methods, when there is not only an outstanding example of successful tax methods as guide but also the splendid financial condi- tion in which the present administra- ton found public affairs, to warn against such tax tinkering as has been going on.
 The great trouble with too many legislators is that they do not make deep and technical study of their business of managing public affairs They permit themselves to be misled by spacious arguments instead of be- ing able to judge for themselves whether such arguments are based or fundamental economic principles or not. There are such principles, and they have been successfully applied 1T other states. They have been tri. umphantly applied in Alabama. The tax rate in this state is among the lowest, and yet the financial condi ton of this state was, on the first o1 January, among the very best. The safest course for those who have not made a real and genuine study of ta1 principles is to cling steadfastly tc the methods that have succeeded, un til they have learned without a doubt that new methods are better. Let them remember the lines of Pope:
 Be not the first by whom the new i'
 tried
 Nor yet the last to lay the old aside
 Let the legislators be sure they are right before they go ahead. Let then not go ahead blindly with the con viction that they have to do some thing. The spectacle of legislature that had the wisdom and forbearance to leave well enough alone would be very gratifying to the public. Next to that is the wisdom that knows what to do when something must be done
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 CHAIR VERSUS GALLONS
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