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_The Taxation of Negroes in Virginia._ By TOPTON RAY SNAVELY,
Phelps-Stokes Fellow at the University of Virginia, 1915-1917.
Publication of the University of Virginia Phelps-Stokes Papers. Pp.
97.
This work is the result of the establishment at the University of
Virginia of a fellowship through a gift from the trustees of the
Phelps-Stokes Fund. The holder of this fellowship must "stimulate and
conduct investigations and encourage a wider general interest among
students concerning the character, condition and possibilities of the
Negroes in the Southern States." Carrying out this plan the incumbents
have organized classes for study and conducted special investigations,
assigning related topics for study, bringing the results before
classes for discussion and sometimes securing distinguished men for
lectures in this field.
In this dissertation the author has undertaken something new. No one
had so far treated the taxation of the Negroes in any State. As
taxation is an important concern of the commonwealth, it was believed
that the way in which the State determined how this burden should fall
on the Negro race would do much in bringing out an understanding as to
the attitude of the whites to the blacks. The author claims to have
adhered strictly to the facts to give an unbiased interpretation of
this phase of history. The work is well done in parts. It should have
been amplified. The most valuable part of it is that which treats of
the problem of taxation since the Civil War. In treating the
antebellum period, the author shows a lack of breadth in that he does
not connect the question of the taxation of Negroes with the struggle
between Eastern and Western Virginia, which finally resulted in the
disruption of the State. He does not show that the West wanted the
increase in taxes, necessitated by the construction of internal
improvements, obtained from a tax on slaves, as the mountaineers did
not have many, while the East was anxious to tax more heavily cattle
and the like which flourished beyond the Alleghanies.
During the colonial period and, at times, after the Revolution,
Negroes paid a capitation tax. It is remarkable that the State of
Virginia in 1814 collected $8,322 from 5,547 free Negroes. The same
class of Negroes paid $11,554 in 1863 at the rate of $2 a head.
Provision was made for the capitation tax in the Constitution of
1867-68. In 1870 the prepayment was required of voters but because of
corruption at the ballot box it was repealed. Delinquency followed and
to counteract this the tax was made a lien on real estate. The
Constitution of 1901-02 made the poll-tax a political measure in
providing that the payment of it six months in advance of election day
should be a prerequisite for voting with a registration clause as
another requirement. These provisions, it seems, have not been
enforced and for that reason many Negroes are returned as delinquent.
In 1914 the whites showed a delinquency of thirty per cent, and the
Negroes sixty per cent.
Taking up real estate, which is the principal source of all taxes paid
by Negroes, the author confines himself to the period since the War.
The Negroes of Virginia had $12,464,377 subject to taxation in 1900
and $28,775,199 in 1914. The tax levy in 1910 was $48,173 and $93,245
in 1914, having almost doubled during the intervening years. The
delinquency in real estate taxes too is much less than that in the
case of capitation taxes.
In answer to the question as to whether the Negroes of the State are
sharing its burden of taxation in proportion to their ability the
author brings out some interesting facts. He finds it difficult to
answer this question accurately. He shows, however, that Negroes
composing 32.6 per cent. of the population pay only a small part of
the $7,757,532 in taxes of all kinds. The real estate, capitation,
personal property and income taxes paid by Negroes in 1914 aggregated
$318,381, or 5 per cent. of the real estate taxes, 3.8 per cent. of
the personal property taxes, 28.1 per cent. of the capitation taxes,
and .000006 per cent. of the income taxes. In all the Negroes pay
about 4.1 per cent. of the revenue of the State. This estimate is
doubtless too low.