Page:Journal of the House of Representatives of the State of Georgia 1849.djvu/19

16 the property assessed, the fluctuations in its value, th'e elasticity of conscience, or change of opinion, as often exhibited in regard to the qualities ot real estate, a degree of uncertainty and doubt must ever attend the present mode of raising revenue. The evil of the present system does hot stop there, but is felt by the State in every business transaction: we have a public debt, small it is true compared with our abundant resources and the known good faith of the State, yet it is not to be disguised that capitalists, in seeking investments in State securities, scrutinize with vigilant and searching minuteness, every feature of the financial system upon which the State throws its securities into the market; and if uncertainty in providing adequate means to meet all demands, is believed to be even a remote possibility, to that extent at least, your credit is depreciated and the character of the State thus injuriously affected. If, therefore, for no other reason than the remote possibility of the mortification all would feel at the depreciation of State credit, growing out of the state of things here alluded to, it seems to me timely and wise measures should be adopted at this session to put an end to all such fears. If it be said that years of experience, under the existing system, have demonstrated its adequacy and reliability, and therefore, no change is demanded, let me remind you that one of the prolific sources of income, receipts from lands, which hitherto so opportunely supplied all deficiencies, can no longer be relied upon; that source is exhausted, and we are no v forced to fall back entirely upon taxes, income from bank slock, and the receipts of the State Road—all of which are involved in too much doubt, perhaps, to form the basis of reliable estimates. But if the nett income from the Rail Road and Bank Stock, should swell the amount of our receipts a quarter or half a million annually, or any other sum, it would but strengthen the argument—as, in that event, it would be necessary only to raise by taxation a sum sufficient to supply the deficiency from other sources. But the subject remains to be considered in another aspect—one that must commend itself to the head and heart of any candid mind. The present system, it must be admitted, rests upon no fixed principle of either specific or ad valorem taxation; it presents the singular enough aspect of patchwork—of a capricious, ill-digested, and miserable expedient, that may answer its purpose for the brief period of two years is prescribed for its duration, and then to be thrown aside to give place to something else of like duration, with no higher claims to public confidence than that which preceded it. But the objection is not confined to the temporary character of our tax laws, or the consequent necessity of biennial legislation upon the subject, leaving the public mind