508 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



[August 



work. Let us see liow Charleston, the chief 

 port of South Carolina, acts in this most unwor- 

 thy warfare on an independent foreign trade ; 

 $1 20 on the stock of goods on hand averaged, 

 is her demand; and this effectually kills any^ 

 deposit of goods there, for it just amounts to a 

 storage charge of one dollar and thirty cents to 

 tlie city government. Every one familiar with 

 commerce, must know that, in most articles, an 

 examination of the article itself is required by 

 the purchaser; and by consequence, if the city 

 defeats a deposit of the article, she cuts off to 

 that extent this pre-requisite, and sends off her 

 customers to points where the goods may be 

 seen and inspected before purchase. This, then, 

 is hostility to any stock being kept for supplies, 

 and forces the closest i")urchases by her mer- 

 chants : and, by consequence, no article waiting 

 a market will be left in Charleston by the owner, 

 as a less inhospitable point will be found for a 

 depot, until purchasers present themselves. 

 But the State of South Carolina comes forward 

 with a demand, also, of ten cents on each hun- 

 dred dollars, on each sale upon her soil, in 

 which we discover many of the odious features 

 of the Virginia system, to wit : demanding a 

 tax on each sale. And having demonstrated the 

 Virginia license tax to act as a premium or a 

 bounty to every merchant in the State to make 

 all his purchases out of the State, we have only 

 to apply the same general remarks to South Car- 

 olina. 



"In Georgia we have by the State diW goods, 

 wares or merchandize treated as personal pro- 

 perty, and taxed at the same rate as other 

 property. The Corporation of Savannah, her 

 chief seaport, levies her city tax on all goods,, 

 wares, and merchandize and stock in trade, as 

 well as capital at one per cent. ; the same with 

 real property ; in other words, the charges, like 

 Charleston, a storage of one per cent, on all 

 merchandize. And, having shown its effects 

 in Charleston, we neetl only repeat the same 

 remarks respecting Savannah. There is three- 

 eights of one per centi levied on all the gross 

 sales by commission, which must be intended 

 to catch 'the cotton. What folly in a city seek- 

 ing any amount of trade in this or any other 

 article, to tax it because it passes through the 

 town! It will find some other outlet if pos- 

 sible, sooner or later. 



" The State of Alabama taxes each sale made 

 on her soil, 90 cents on the hundred dollars 

 e xcept foreign cargo sales) at auction ; but all 



other auction sales, one dollar on the hundred 

 dollars, with permission to extend it to one and 

 a half per cent, by the charter, in Mobile, where 

 the tax is on licenses, dividing her merchants 

 into retail and wholesale ; but capital is taxed 

 by the corporation. The same observations, 

 to a certain extent, ap})lied to the Virginia sys- 

 tem and to the South Carolina one, are true 

 respecting the Alabama State tax. 



" Louisiana taxes capital at one-sixth of one 

 per cent., but adds the discrimination on licen- 

 ces ; wholesalers paying $80, retailers $15. 



"The State taxes of New Orleans are, by 

 the report of the Auditor of Louisiana for the 

 year 1859, on trades, professions and occupa- 

 tions in the Parish of Orleans, $159,180 ; auc- 

 tion taxes $33,118 07; in all the rest of the 

 State of Louisiana, $80,331 25, while the whole 

 of the State taxes proper on other subjects in 

 every district was $655,029 57 ; or, in other 

 words, more than one-fourth of the entire State 

 revenue is taken from the use of capital in 

 merchandize, or in some other pursuit which 

 is licensed. To be added to this, we must see 

 the New Orleans city taxes, which are $1 30 

 on all personal property, with $75 for whole- 

 sale, and $25 for retail merchants not selling 

 ■liquors ; but every vocation is taxed specially ; 

 and to this sum of $1 30 cents is to be added 

 20 cents for railroad tax, as it is called — in all, 

 $1 50 on capital. 



'j Missouri taxes for State and county purpo- 

 ses, 70 cents on each $100 of the invoice 

 value of merchandize on hand 1st of April 

 each year. The city of St. Louis requires 50 

 cents on each $100 of the largest amount on 

 hand any day from 1st April to 1st June, each 

 year — together $1 20 on stock on hand, or cap- 

 ital—every bank in. every Southern State is a 

 dealer in exchange ; and in many instances 

 nothing more. The fact, that Northern corpo- 

 rations may levy taxes of a similar character, 

 is no reason why we should follow the same 

 course. 



" In Maryland we have the State demanding 

 a tax on the stock in trade, and Baltimore tax- 

 ing $1 10 on capital. We are met with many 

 such expressions as that the Southern towns are 

 unhealthy, and that trade will never flow iu 

 artificial channels. Grant the first statement 

 respecting some of the Southern towns, yet it 

 is an absurdity to make your taxes an additional 

 burthen against a point when insalubrity has al- 

 ' ready placed it at a disadvantage. But Balti- 



