Grass Valley telegraph., 1857-01-24
Shall Mining Claim. be Taxed g

Shall Mining Claims be Taxede
The men of the valley counties complain
that the men in the mountains do not con-
tribute their fair quota of taxes and some,
as mode of equalization. urge tax upon
mining claims. Can such property be as
sessed for taxation? If so. how can a value
be set upon it Who can tell what claim
may be worth, until it has been worked out :?
If improvements be assessed, who shall de-
eide what constitutes an improvement? An
engine, with the necessary buildings may be
erected at an expense of several thousand
dollars upon piece of ground supposed to
be rich; shaft sunk at further expense of
several thousand dollars, and the ground
prove to be worthless claims NAV be staked
of upon hill, and one or more tunnels run
In, at an expense of five, ten, fifteen or twen-
ty thousand dollars, and the ground fail to
return one dollar. Could such investments
be considered as improvements? Should thew
be subject to taxation?
Those familiar with mining operations can
cite hundreds of instances within their knowl-
edge, which have been attended with com
plete failure. Grass Valley can cite ''Iowa
Hill" which has taxed her citizens some
three hundred thousand dollars, and has not
returned one per cent of that amount We
need not even go out of Grass Valley to find
Instances where tens of thousands Of dollars
have been expended with no better results.
Again, mining claims at Iowa Hill, which
three years ago would readily command from
one thousand to fifteen thousand dollars in
cash, have not since paid one per cent
month on such value. They can now be pur-
chased for one-tenth the sum formerly de-
manded. 1t certainly cannot be just to tax
miner for the value of his labor expended
in prospecting.
The capitalist-all miners come under this
category, for their labor is capital-but most
especially the monied capitalist, who invests
his money in the erection of machinery and
in the employment of labor is benefactor
to the country, and his money thus employed
should be as free from taxes as should the la
borer who works for his daily stipend
Let the miners alone leave them to their
work, and tar the gold whenever and where
ever it can be found.
There is Poll tax of So head. The re-
turns show that not one half the polls pay
this tax. Why? Because the collectors con-
fine their operations to the thickly settled
districts, for the reason that the commission
there will afford them good wages, while to
go over the hills and through the ravines will
not pay.
Let this law be amended, the amount in
creased if necessary, and the collection en-
forced. Add, if you please, the Road Tax to
the Poll tax, and collect the two together.
Let the Sheriff be charged with number of
polls equal to the vote polled at the last pre-
vious election. Allow him one dollar, or
certain commission on each, and charge him
with the deficiency. Then allow no man to
vote who has not paid his tax nor to bring
suit, or be eligible as witness in civil cases
and if miner, let his claim be liable to be
jumped or sold for default, but at the same
time make discount of the amonnt of fee
for collection to all who may pay their taxes
by certain day into the county treasury
The Poll tax, the tax upon Chinese miners.
and the taxes derived from other sources in
the mining counties already conceded, would,
if properly collected,as they might be, amount
to more than one-half the present revenue of
the State
A fit object of taxation would be the grow
ing "piles" deposited by miners in the mint
for safety, until they are ready to go home
tax them if you can, for their "hearts are not
in the Highlands, but do not tax the pros
pecting operations which the industrious and
enterprising few are engaged in, as neces-
sary preliminary outlay which must precede
the actual development of the value of a
piece of mining ground, nor even that ground
itself, until some method can be devised to
determine its actual value and to our think
ing the value of claim cannot be ascertain
ed until worked out therefore to tax them
would be as unjust as impolitic.