this morning, if I understand it rightly, is
the proposed amendment of the gentleman
from Allegany (Mr. Greene) to strike out
article 14 of this bill of rights, as reported
by the committee, and substitute in lieu
thereof the following:
"That paupers ought not to be assessed for
the support of the government, but every
person in the State, holding property therein,
ought to contribute his proportion of public
taxes for the support of government, accord-
ing to his actual worth in real or personal
property: and fines, duties or taxes, may
properly and justly be imposed or laid on
persons or property for the good government
and benefit of the community; provided, that
no capitation tax shall be imposed as a quali-
fication for the exercise of the right of suf-
frage."
Upon this proposition, and that which the
gentleman from Somerset (Mr. Jones) has
indicated his intention to offer at the proper
time, I shall base my argument. The idea
which the gentleman from Allegany (Mr,
Greene) seems to have in view is to eradicate
that word "poll" from this article of the bill
of rights as it now stands. My object will
be to show that whatever other amendment
you may make to this article, that word
"poll" should be sacredly preserved in it. I
have no objection to the Legislature of the
State imposing a fair, just and equitable in-
come tax, but I do object to eradicating from
our bill of rights a principle which I deem
to be fundamental; that is, that all taxes
should be fairly apportioned among the peo-
ple—and I do maintain that by a poll tax no
fair and equitable taxation can be imposed
upon the people. A poll fax is one of those
anomalies for which no provision can be made
to secure the fair distribution of the bur-
dens of taxation. And as it permits a thing
impossible to be justly and equitably done,
let us leave this article as we find it, preserv-
ing to each man the enjoyment of all his
rights.
Now a poll tax being in itself per capita,
it falls alike upon the rich and the poor.
You cannot make a distinction, and say that
the man owning a thousand, dollars worth of
property shall pay a per capita tax of five
dollars, and the man owning a hundred dol-
lars worth shall pay a per capita tax of fifty
cents or one dollar. That is an impossible
thing; for the very term "poll tax" indicates
a tax to be applied to every individual
equally.
And there is another difficulty that presents
itself for consideration. How are we to dis-
tribute this per capita tax, this tax upon the
head? Is it to be laid upon the head of each
individual in a family, or merely upon the
heads of families? I do not propose to con-
sider this matter as affecting the right of
suffrage; it has nothing to do with the right
of suffrage. I shall view it merely as pro- |
viding a source of revenue; and I ask gen-
tlemen who propose to strike out this provi-
sion prohibiting the levying of taxes by the
poll and to leave it in the power of the
Legislature to impose a per capita tax, if they
can fell me by what rule the Legislature are
to be governed in imposing such a tax. Is
the man and wife with six or seven children
to be taxed a dollar each, and the man and
wife with no children to be taxed a dollar
each? Would that be fair and just? Or
shall the head of a family alone be taxed,
whether he has a half dozen children to sup-
port, or no child at all? Or shall we fix
it so that every man in the State, twenty-one
years of age, shall be taxed one dollar,
or five, or ten dollars, as the Legislature
may deem proper? Shall we say that the
poor man, who earns his poor pittance of
but a dollar a day, shall pay a per capita tax
of one dollar, or five dollars a year, and the
man of substance and means, rolling in afflu-
ence and wealth, shall pay the same? It is
such a principle as that that I am contending
against.
Whoever dreamed, until yesterday when
we heard the assertion made here, that a poll
tax necessarily implied a tax upon the right
of suffrage? It can only be applied to it by
some special provision to that effect. Our
Constitution and laws contain no such pro-
vision; nor has any such provision been pro-
posed here. The proposition to strike out
this provision exempting a man from a poll
tax, does not affix the penalty that if he does
not pay that tax he shall not be allowed to
vote. It is against giving our Legislature the
right to impose any such tax at all, that 1
am contending. I contend that we should
not leave a power so great in the hands of
our Legislature, one which they may wield to
the destruction of this State and the destruc-
tion of the best interests of the people of the
State.
Now if I am rightly informed, we are not
assembled here as legislative bodies assemble.
We have no lobby here, crowded with indi-
viduals pressing their private claims and en-
terprises upon us. We are assembled here as
a deliberative body to provide measures for
the general good of the State, not for the
special benefit of the city of Baltimore, as
upon a certain occasion in regard to a rail-
road bill; not for the special good of Al-
legany county, or Montgomery county.
None of these outside influences are brought
to bear upon us here. I trust we are all
assembled here for the good of the whole
State, to protect the interests of the people
of all the State, and especially to protect
the poor man from oppression and injus-
tice.
Now let us see what Andrews on the Rev-
enue Laws says on this subject of taxation.
1 read from page four of that work :
"The word "taxes" comprehends all pe- |
