The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-09-05
IT IS UP TO BRANDON

IT IS UP TO BRANDON
 The anticipated effort of Governor Brandon to force the four-mill tax amendment through the legislature de- serves to be stoutly resisted. AL though Governor Bhandon has posed as man of the people, let him recon cile that profession, if he can, with his tax policy which has already re- lieved the interruptions of great tax burden and cast it upon the small tax payer. If it is true that tax valua- tions in this state have decreased seventy-five million dollars, and the governor admits that there has been an alarming "deflation," let the aver age taxpayer ask himself whether his own tax assessments have dropped and his own property valuations have declined. The small taxpayer knows that he has not been relieved of any taxes, and he knows that, if the four mill tax is levied, he is the one who will have to pay it. "Plain Bill' Bran don has fixed things so that the rich tax-dodger can escape and leave the small taxpayer to hold the bag. And, not content with that, he now pro poses that an additional burden of four mills shall be imposed upon those who trustingly elected him to office.
 The governor cannot deceive the people with his declaration that the schools need this money. Nobody de- nies that the schools need money, and the majority of the people in this state intend that the schools shall have the money they require. But the people well know that this four-mill tax prop osition is mere evasion and camou- flage. Why should the governor ma nipulate the figures so as to make it appear that the deficit in the general fund is school deficit? Why shouldn't he as well say that it is the law enforcement fund, or the charity fund, that bears the deficit?
 The people are not to be misled. The deficit that the governor complains of is a general deficit. It is not deficit due to shrinkage in property values in this state, but to shrinkagc in tax valuations due directly to the loophole the governor created when he destroyed the tax machinery that was so rapidly pulling this state out of financial difficulties and placing &LO Ia soIo %A oI pendence. What fault could the gov .ernor have possibly found with this machinery, except that it was too eff ficient; that it served the purpose for which it was intended; that it searched out the professional tax-dodger and made him pay up?
 What apology can Governor Bran don make for his error? What atone ment? There is only one apology that the people of Alabama will ac- cept, and that is a message by the governor to the legislators of Ala bama counseling them earnestly to re- establish the tax-adjusting and tax collecting agencies. There is only one atonement, and that is restoration of that splendid tax machinery which was so needlessly and ruthlessly junked at the very height of its service and efficiency.
 If that tax machinery is restored, and if men of integrity and ability are appointed in all sincerity to perform, their public duty without fear nor fa- vor, then beside the resultant increase in state revenues the four-mill tax proposed by Governor Brandon would be small thing indeed. The state needs more revenues, and the state can obtain those revenues without im- posing one additional mill upon the faithful taxpayers of Alabama. Let the governor see to it that the burden falls not upon those who honorably discharge their public tax obligations, but upon those who find profit ia evading their tax obligations. Unless the proper policy Is followed in this highly important matter, there is no assurance that the people of this state will support the governors evasive and questionable program. If W. W. Brandon is really man of the peo- pie, now is the time for him to show it, or never again to lay claim to that title.