Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1882-11-03


cent, instead of one-half of one per cent,
when the tax is paid to him.
by Mr. Smith OF Newbury, Ii. PA IRE
lating 10 marriage certificates The town
clerk may require an oath that neither of the
persons to be married are minors.
Taxation Interpretations,
The hearings before the Committee on
| Ways and Means on the taxation of corpora.
tions were continued to-day.
Hon. f.. l.. Waterman of Jamaica spoke
IN the interest of savings banks in bis locality.
Jamaica bank is strictly savings bank, for
the benefit of small depositors, having but
Sl3O, 900, in deposit. 1t has very few out of
state depositors and only recently began
loaning out of the State lie thought small
banks like his, could not stand II larger tax
than the present one, onc-half per cent, and
the imposition of heavier tax would cause
deposItors to withdraw aud that would nccCs-
state raising money on the mortgages held
by the bank and farmers and people in
the vicinity whose mortgages it holds would
be distressed thereby. There are only
three deposits of over $1,000 and the officers
have taken special care TO keep tax-dodgers
from depositing money TO avoid TAXATION
The bank was organised in '13 and has been
running since, and is now paying four per
cent interest. Tie bulk of home loans are nj
six per cent, except one TO town at five per
cent. Western loans bear seven to eight per
cent. He thought the present tax all that
was just, and all the banks could bear
Hon. W. Il. Shaw of Burlington represents
tue Savings Bank in that city. the Winooski
Savings Bank, and the Burlington Trust Com
rany. The Burlington Savings Bank has al
ways taken conservative stand IN keeping
out large dcpostors and those who would put
money in the bank to avoid taxation and The
bank has in pursuance of this line, paid back
large deposits. The only and largest dividend
this bank has been able to pay was four per
cent per annum. 1t has likewise cut down
the limit OF single deposit to $500 and
would like 1t to be cut still lower. OF the
amount ON deposit only "A small part is loan
ed out of the State.
Mr.. Shaw thought the method Of taxing
the entire deposit and having it paid into the
the State treasury by the bank was the best
method ms ii did not vcx or harass the tax
payer so much as to lay the tax directly on
him and the amount obtained for taxation
would be much larger than could he got at
by the most stringent oath. lie further said
that onc-hali OF one per cent was as large n
tax us the savings banks could paw, and
make dividend of four per cent and if that
dividend was lcsscncd, foreign deposits
would be Withdrawn. The question that
was chiefly considered, was the ACCESSIBILITY
OF paying the tax on savings banks and other
corporations directly into the treasury and
paying the state tax herewith. This would
relieve all towns of State tax. There is
deposit ui SIP 900, 900 in savings banks of
Vermont, and of this there are $3.50, 600 in
Governments.
Maj. VIM gave his views OF the taxing of
insurance companies and the objections adj
vanced by the companies The first obiec-
llon was that ii was double taxation, This
argument ongat not to be Of force because
there is no law in Vermont recognizing dou-
Die taxation, and what is called double taxa |
tlon is applied to individuals and there should |
he no exception in favor of an institution. |
The next objection was ithat i, was an er
post Jdcto law. This point has been adverse
~ decided by the courts of Massachusetts, |
anu DOES not enter rs an argument. Next |
That business already done should not be |
taxed because the business was done under |
al exemption act and should therefore never
be taxed. This is not tcnablc, rs the parties
who took the insurance were bound to know
what the powers o! the Legislature were, and |
mat tax was possible TO tC laid, and if they
ana not do SO II was not binding on the Leg |
lslnturc and reasonable tax is not bad faith
as thls taxing was one of the risks the insured |
took when he invested As to the point that
the reserve OF Il life insurance company not
being taxed because it was as claimed loss,
Maj. VIM claimed it was cash not loss. that
the cash was taxed, not the cxiccncy for
which the cash is kept. There is no IDEA to
tax the company, speaking Of the National
l.lir of Montpelier but the money kept in
deposit with that company. The only reason
why lie insurance should not be taxed is the
nature of its beneficiary. This reserve is
used, loaned and treated the same MS savings
bank deposits, except that the interest in the
latter is paid perhaps to some other person
han the dcpositor. 1t is an investment for
the profit Of some one. The main argument
against taxing the reserve was that it would
endanger the ability of companies to pay
their losses. He did not think the committee
should consider so remote contingency.
The companies admitted that at per cent
lhey could keep up the surplus and meet
losses. 1t was further admitted that the pre-
vailirg rate was over A per cent and now
At percent, so the tax could not for a long
time affect the surplus and he thought the
idea was not tenable from the admissions of
the companies. He said that the only reason
why such companies should not be taxed, if
at ALL was that of their general benefit to the
State and its people
Adjourned