Page:Journal of the House of Representatives of the State of Georgia 1849.djvu/20

Rh agitated and in doubt, but to the inherent difficulty, if not impossibility, of establishing a durable and permanent system of finance upon erroneous and unjust principles. No system of taxation which does not bear equally upon the property of the whole people, can be just. The property of every citizen is equally protected by law, and therefore, natural justice would seem to demand that it should contribute equally to the support of Government. The maxim that Equality is Equity, is peculiarly true in raising an income for the State; and though a wise discrimination in some instances in favor of specific property, with a view of stimulating production in which the public at large may have an interest equivalent to the surrender of its due portion of taxes, may, be tolerated as an exception to the rule to be continued for a season, yet these exceptions do not impair the essential, just and enduring principle, of ad valorem taxation. Individual or political right are equal with the poor and the rich; in this respect there can be no difference; and, therefore, if a poll-tax is imposed at all, it should be set apart and applied to objects of education, in which all have an equal interest, whatever their condition may be. But as regards property, this equality is not found to exist; and as Government is as much bound to protect and defend the citizen's right of property, as it is his personal or political rights, so in the same ratio as the aggregate property of one citizen exceeds that of another, should your system of finance exact contributions of the one over the other for the support of Government. With these principles kept in view, it remains to be seen whether the present system of specific taxation fails unequally upon different interests, and therefore unjustly, and whether the ad valorem system would remedy the evils now supposed to exist. In reference to the gross and palpable inequality of the present tax law, it is so universally understood and acknowledged, that it might be regarded as a useless waste of time to enter into any detailed statement on the subject. If the objects of taxation be considered in reference to Agriculture, Commerce, or Manufactures, the inequality is striking. The classification of lands operates unjustly. Lands of equal value, situated in different sections of the State, and in some instances in the same county, are subject to a different rate of taxation; nor is it believed that any classification of real estate can be made that will remedy this defect. The same remark is true of slaves, on all of whom is imposed a specific tax, irrespective of their true value—making the tax on a slave worth one hundred dollars the same as upon one worth one thousand. Not only does this inequality exist in regard to the agricultural uiterest, but when it is