Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1923-11-28
NJ GREGOR DEFENDS
AID VALOREM SYSTEM
Commissioner of Pensions, In
Statement, Upholds Present
Georgia Tax Methods

ATLANTA, Nov. 2S.-(SpeciaD
In an open letter addressed to the
members of the general assembly,
C. E. McGregor, commissioner of
pensions, urges adherence to the
ad valorem system of state taxa
tion, repeal of the tax equalization
law and defeat of any commercial
lied theories of taxation"
Major McGregor also defends the
Miner cigarette and cigar tax bill,
enacted at the regular session, and
describes the tax collected on these
commodities as a voluntary contri-
button" toward payment of the
Confederate pensions and the build
ing of a new tuberculosis SAM
tarium on the ground that any
man who does not wish to pay the
tax can smoke a pipe or roll his
own cigarettes"
The letter, which was given out
Saturday, in full, is as follows;
To the Members of the General
Assembly:
! Georgia has never officially
abandoned the theory that this is a
government "of the people, for the
people and by the people" until
she does, her mandates to you
through properly-constituted CON
ventions, should not be side-tracked
by untried economics, or the adop-
ton of commercialized theories by
commissions" selected and chosen
for so great a purpose.
You are up against that issue to-
day, and will be Monday and Tues
day. How are you going to solve
it? Will you abandon the ad va
loren and uniformity theory, for
mulated by Toombs, stephens, Cobb,
Johnson and other statesmen and
political economists, adopted by the
constitutional convention of 1877,
| and under which Georgia grhw
grew from abject poverty in 1870
to opulence and the Empire State
of the South, for untried theories,
some of, which the United States
government, with, all its power, has
been unable to enforce, and which
are are annually defied end circum-
vented bv large corporations and
millionaire capitalists, or will you
repeal the present unjust, monarch
ial equalization law, as demanded
by the voters who elected you, re-
enact the Toombs, Stephens, ct al.
theory, and put teeth into it to en-
force it?
The constitution amendment of
1918, demanded provision for the
payment of pensions to Confederate
veterans and the widows of Ccnfed-
crate veterans and that provision
Should no longer be ignored nor de-
layed. Legislation looking to the
fulfillment of that demand has been
enacted and then murdered by ex-
ecutive veto, and the state is now
indebted to the heroes and widows
Of heroes who preserved constitu-
tional liberty in America, by over
two million dollars. Shall that debt
be liquidated? The people of Geor-
gia, at the election in 1922, ans
wered yes, by defeating the canGi-
date who had ignored tae debt end
electing the candidate who pledged
fealty to the veterans and their
rights.
You recognized the priority Of
this debt when you accorded to the
patriotic appeal Of the senate to
provide some additional revenue to
the present ad valorem revenue, by
which this sacred pledge could be
redeemed You nobly and quickly
responded, by the enactment of the
Miner bill, putting a 10 per cent
tax on cigarets and cigars, which
the senate accepted and which pass
ed and was approved by the COVER
nor, August Is, 1928.
Please read said Miner act care
fully. 1t is not tax" but a vol
untary assessment, for humanita-
rian and patriotic purposes, upon
those who wish to indulge then
taste, fancy or idosyncracy. The
10 per cent is a Voluntary contribu-
ton; no man can be compelled to
pay lit; he can smoke pipe or roll
his cigarettes and escape it.
The fears expressed that the en-