Civil War and Reconstruction in AlabamaFleming, Walter L. (Walter Lynwood)
History
Civil War and Reconstruction in Alabama
Fleming, Walter L. (Walter Lynwood)
Alabama -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865; Reconstruction (U.S. history, 1865-1877) -- Alabama
While the state taxes were felt chiefly by the wealthier agricultural
classes and the slave owners, this was not the case with the Confederate
taxes. The loans and gifts from the state, the war tax of August 19, 1861,
the $15,000,000 loan, the Produce Loan, and the proceeds of
sequestration--all had not availed to secure sufficient supplies. The
Produce Loan of 1862 was subscribed to largely in Alabama, the Secretary
of the Treasury issuing stocks and bonds in return for supplies,[433] and
$1,500,000 of the $15,000,000 loan was raised in the state. Still the
Confederate government was in desperate need. The farmers would not
willingly sell their produce for currency which was constantly decreasing
in value, and, when selling at all, they were forced to charge exorbitant
prices because of the high prices charged them for everything by the
speculators.[434] The speculator also ran up the prices of supplies beyond
the reach of the government purchasing agents who had to buy according to
the list of prices issued by impressment commissioners. So in the spring
of 1863 all other expedients were cast aside and the Confederate
government levied a genuine "Morton's Fork" tax. No more loans of paper
money from the state, no more assumption of war taxes by the state
governments because the people were opposed to any form of direct
taxation, no more holding back of supplies by producers and speculators
who refused to sell to the Confederate government except for coin; the new
law stopped all that.[435]
First there was a tax of 8 per cent on all agricultural products in hand
on July 1, 1863, on salt, wine, and liquors, and 1 per cent on all moneys
and credits. Second, an occupation tax ranging from $50 to $200 and from
2-1/2 per cent to 20 per cent of their gross sales was levied on bankers,
auctioneers, brokers, druggists, butchers, fakirs, liquor dealers,
merchants, pawnbrokers, lawyers, physicians, photographers, brewers, and
distillers; hotels paid from $30 to $500, and theatres, $500. Third, there
was an income tax of 1 per cent on salaries from $1000 to $1500 and 2 per
cent on all over $1500. Fourth, 10 per cent on all trade in flour, bacon,
corn, oats, and dry goods during 1863. Fifth, a tax-in-kind, by which each
farmer, after reserving 50 bushels of sweet and 50 bushels of Irish
potatoes, 20 bushels of peas or beans, 100 bushels of corn or 50 bushels
of wheat out of his crop of 1863, had to deliver (at a depot within 8
miles) out of the remainder of his produce for that year, 10 per cent of
all wheat, corn, oats, rye, buckwheat, rice, sweet and Irish potatoes,
hay, fodder, sugar, molasses, cotton, wool, tobacco, peas, beans, and
peanuts; 10 per cent of all meat killed between April 24, 1863, and March
1, 1863.[436]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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