330 



FLORIDA. 



exceedingly languid throughout the year, ex- 

 cept in Government securities. (See COM- 



MBRCE.) 



FLORIDA. In this State, during the year, 

 the harvests were abundant, the taxation was 

 decreased, educational advantages were im- 

 proved, and pence prevailed. The floating 

 indebtedness of the State on January 1, 1877, 

 was $249,788.41, of which $184,215.60 has 

 been paid, leaving the balance of that indebt- 

 edness $65,572.81. The current expenses of 

 the State for 1877 were $212,530.31, and for 

 1878, $133,970.36. The bonded debt of the 

 State is $1,284,700, of which there is in the 

 hands of private parties $716,100. This debt 

 has been decreased $21,000 within the past 

 two years. The details of the debt are as fol- 

 lows : 



7 per cent, bonds of 1871 $350,000 



6 per cent, bonds of 1878 925,000 



8 per cent. Convention bonds 1,500 



7 per cent, bonds of 1857 $4,000 



Interest to January 1, 1879 4,200 8,200 



Total $1,284,700 



Deduct bonds in sinking funds 143,900 



$1,140,800 



The Governor states that, finding a reduc- 

 tion of taxes could be made in 1877, and there 

 still be sufficient funds in the Treasury to meet 

 all expenditures without injury or detriment, 

 he directed the Comptroller to order the col- 

 lectors of revenue of the different counties 

 throughout the State to suspend the collection 

 of a portion of the taxes for that year, to wit : 

 one mill on the dollar for the tax to pay appro- 

 priations for 1877, generally known as the 

 State tax proper; one mill on the dollar of the 

 tax levied to pay the interest on and for the 

 ultimate redemption of the State bonds of 1873, 

 called the general sinking fund tax; and the 

 tax to pay the interest upon and form a sinking 

 fund, for the redemption of the bonds of 1871, 

 known as the special sinking fund tax, was 

 made uniform throughout the State by being 

 placed at one mill on the dollar, making a re- 

 duction of the State tax for 1877 of about two 

 and a half mills on the dollar. This resulted 

 in a saving to the people of $77,245. In the 

 year 1878, seeing that another and further re- 

 duction of the- State taxes could be made, he 

 directed the Comptroller to order the collectors 

 of revenue to suspend the collection of two 

 mills on the dollar of the State tax proper, and 

 one mill of the general sinking fund tax ; and 

 the special sinking fund tax was again made 

 uniform at tlie rate of one mill on the dollar, 

 making a reduction of about three and a half 

 mills upon the dollar of taxes for 1878. This 

 saved to the tax-payers the sum of $103,149. 

 The amounts saved to the people of the State 

 of Florida by the suspension of the above-men- 

 tioned portions of the taxes for 1877 and 1878 

 aggregate about $180,394. 



The complaint of a want of uniformity in 

 taxation seems to prevail in Florida as well as 

 m other States. Under the present system of 



assessment, a great deal of property is assessed 

 at a greatly less valuation than the u usual sell- 

 ing price" the annual crop would sell for in 

 the market, and in some instances at less than 

 half the value of the crop, and scarcely one 

 tenth of what the owner would demand for the 

 property were he to offer it for sale. Different 

 States have adopted different methods to rem- 

 edy the evil. Some have adopted the plan of 

 having appraisers accompany the assessors, and 

 require them to visit and examine in person 

 every piece of real estate, make diligent in- 

 quiries about all personal property, and to 

 make an appraisement of all such real and per- 

 sonal property to the best of their judgment. 

 Other States have adopted other measures, hut 

 all tending to the same end, namely, to ascer- 

 tain the true value of all property. The State 

 of Kentucky has adopted the plan of providing 

 the tax assessors with suitable blanks, under 

 proper headings, who furnish one of these 

 blanks to each tax-payer, requiring him to 

 make out a complete schedule of all his prop- 

 erty, real, personal, and mixed. Upon these 

 blanks are printed certain questions to be asked 

 by the assessor and answered by the tax-payer. 

 An oath is appended to this blank, and, when 

 the proper answers to the questions have been 

 given and entered upon these blanks in their 

 proper columns, the tax-payer is required to 

 subscribe thereto, after having it read to him 

 by the assessor. These lists are then filed with 

 certain county officers, subject to examination 

 and inspection by the grand juries, or any citi- 

 zen, thus furnishing ready proof if any tax- 

 Eayer should perjure himself. From these 

 sts the assessor makes up his tax-books. This 

 mode of assessment increased the assessed value 

 of the taxable property of Kentucky more than 

 20 per cent, the first year after its adoption. 

 The value of taxable property in Florida, as 

 returned by the assessors for 1878, was about 

 $29,250,000. . This valuation is the basis for 

 taxation, which is considered as far from the 

 true valuation. 



The present condition of the public schools 

 is quite favorable, and much improvement has 

 recently been made. In consideration of the 

 partially developed condition of the system in 

 the State, and that it appears to be the first 

 duty to establish and put in operation good and 

 efficient common schools, a change is contem- 

 plated in the law, to limit the public-school 

 instruction to the common-school branches. It 

 is also expected that such a change will coun- 

 teract the tendency of the system to draw. an 

 undue portion of the funds to the towns and 

 more densely populated localities, to the ex- 

 clusion of the remote and sparsely settled sec- 

 tions of the State. It seems the unjust dis- 

 crimination complained of has been made by 

 the authorities in order to foster high schools 

 in the towns. The increase in the county 

 reports of the scholastic population of the State 

 during the last two years has been about 

 14,000. The receipts of the State from the 



