New-York tribune., 1894-04-04
THE STATES HEAVY LOSS.
SUSPICIOTS TAX REBATES.
CONFIRMATION OF THE CHARGES
AGAINST DEMOCRATIC CONTROLLERS.
MIR DEw0N's REPORT TO MIR. ROBERTS SHOWS
THAT NETWORK STATE Is ABOUT >s50oooO
POORER FROM THEIR STRANGE
TRANSACTIONS WITH CORPORA
TONS SENATOR MrRP!IY'S
ROAD RECEIVES
by -ELEGnArn To TIE TnBrY~'

FANoRS
by TIlEGRArH To TIE THmry~'
Albany April 2.-ContrOllcr Roberts made pubic
to-day a remarkable report BY an expert, -. j.
Devon. whom he appointed recently 10 lnVcs"-
gate the granting Of rebates and remittances OF
taxes to the railroad corporations Of the state
on the ground that their interstate business
could not be taxed under Critcd Siatcr statutes
| Mr. Devon found that the Republican Controli-
ers Wadsworth and Davenport. did not remit any
| taxes to the railroad corporations but tha' C'h-
| ,rollcrs Chaplin. Wemple and Campbell the thr'e
! succeeding Democratic Controllers did II the
| remarkable extent Of SlGo0.0oo. Mr. Devon
! states in detail the rebates granted TO various
| corporations He calls attention To the remark
! able fact that the Troy Street Railway COM
| nanv Of which Scnator Edward Murphy, Jr, Is
one Of the financial magnates pays no tax 10
I the State although it Is the richest corporation
| in Troy Mr. Devon says that while there was
| no warrant for granting such rebate Con'roller
! Chaplin decided 10 accept reports from companies
doing an interstate commerce business upon
their earnings and capital wholly employed IN
this state. and did revise a tax for some few
companies which paid tax during his term.
COMPANIES COMPUTED THEIR ow% TANES.
The report says:
In effect this ruling Of Controller Chapin gave 10
privilege of computing the STATE tax on their local
business This rule has been st'lcuy a"h'''u "
Raiiroad companies whose roads are o2eraied EN- en-,
rcy within the confines Of this STATE r3aas ",i.r %
have no connection with lines running mo t otI's.
States aLd steamboat companies hh' ca.iS i,i
in MS state and upon which there can be no ques-
tion of interstate commerce, nave re'el''" '''''
state commerce rebates.
THE STATE LOST ABOUT s3,5oo."o
The amount rebated to transportation companies
reaches the large of &.G21& H. ana OF tMhs M
amount probably s4dOgW has been repat'q & on 'no ne
Interstate commerce theory. There mas Deeh 10
assessment attempt to collect the intcrstale com COM
mrr's h sant aG spT propSry s % %payc thereon Since 1856
would bc at least equal to the amount which & &has
Gasis yi The stat has lost throgeh the l9rS Of IFS
officials to collect ms tax 3ctWeeh n Nv Tax on rrni
and personal property
VAGUE AND UNSATISFACTORY PETITIONS.
About all Of the petitions upon which Interstate
commerce" rebates were granted fail TO disclose
what the Interstate commerce business conslSteI
Of Absolutely nothing specific il given Ih're -
nothing to show in the petition submitted on what
proportion Of their freight AMI PASSENGER trainGG
they claim an Interstate rebate" So vague ana
unsatisfactory these petitions that an oI,hhary
business man would not 1,,cpt % %"ll' ~ Ptn mr.
cicnt for a 3 credit on N.vN account IN p"'dN
ing, these petitions are pTacucaiy ,p,en ~ ,s
earnings. for the purpOs" ot tNillol mus, u,l.'.
secretary or treasurer 81 me c"nla;y IN o'r,t
few cases were the petitions i2r n'eIs'a.r Ir RI u
OF tho petitions were made ana signed by sone
subordinate unknown 10 the department or by an
cia proceeding only. The certainty that trlnspor-
tation companies repor; only their local earhltss
hcier % o. "l ahc the iiimsy nature
OF the evidence upon which rebates to the amount
OF over $4,000 were granted.
Regarding rebates granted on account Of divi-
dends earned prior to November !. 1873. on
which some companies ailege that they had been
taxed. the report states:
REnATrs GRANTED rY WHofEs NE.
Upon thl, information controller Chapin procee ie
10 grant rebates. All companies the taxes ~ which
amounted TO any considerable sum were given re-
bates The practice reached point that IN time
rebates were given tc leased roads. Notwithstanding
the fact that the roads had nxcd incomes under IN"
terms Of their leases and could under no distortion
claiming rebates under uc t''I"''"'' '''"'' "
Chapter 5i2 OF thc Laws of ls''.
In my examination ot the books OF the 'oil"ra11
ton Tax Departutnt nav, W." I'm iu1caii, or er.
credits TO comnni"s i9T th,s nirx"RI, R ,hns Ic
scrbcd. ON December q. 1888. or the last wtek blt
one Of Controller CampbGls term ,hot' ,,,,,nv waS
the sum of 500 Si5 - ON account Of taxes llhThN
rnid L, th. RenssDlaer and Saratoga and Albany
ana Susquehanna railroad companies. Thr iarts
are that the roads above named ar" hoth leh''d by
Tho Deiawar~ ard Hudson Canal Company and
consequently report no earnings to this department.
and are therefore entitled rebate on earnings
ACCOUNTS KEPT ~ LEAD PENCIL.
The bookkeeping for the last two years. rs dis
played in Book Of this department IL simply RI
diculous. All the charges against transportation
companies for the Last two years are made win a
lead pencil why charge Of such important nature
to the people Of the s'rtc of N"~ York should l."
kept with lead pencil Is something can't uh-
Other features of the bookkeeping show how
lenent the Department has been WIN some cor cor
porations anl how strict with others. Tn Albany
and Troy Steaulho,, Company AMI the New YORK
AMI Canada Railroad Company r.p9rt 40 vllue To-
capitll stock The Chateaugay Railroad COMPANY
,bI II r.p@rts over $4,000 annuity 10 the Rail
road commissioners Th" Troy niOn Railroad
chisr In Troy yet the company's name docs not
appear on the Controller corporation books
MIR. c,MrEErI.s STATEMENT AND THE FACTS.
would like to call the Controllers attention 10
ono more fact before close. In Controller camp
bells report for the year 1893 he says: the entire
amount received during the fiscal year, including
organization tax $500 2n 49, is the sum of $G9G.
40 g. the largest sum eyer received from thls
source and an increase over the preceding year OF
4 glance at Controller Davenports report for The
81 aSj I7s g. $5Oii59 IS NOR" from corporations
than Controller Campbell did and VIII at the same
time call his attention to the further fact that
Controller Davenport spent but N.7oo n collecting
the tax 1883. while Controller Campbell spent the
sum OF $4,000 IN 1899 trying to collect IN" tax from
corporations.
SUSPICIOUS DATES or THE REBATES
Now in conclusion. desire to call the Control
ler's attention to the fact that about all Of the
large rebates to which have referred In the fore
going were made during the very last days
OF the term Of office OF the Controllers
who granted them. How It was discovered
by these officials Just as they were about
TO retire from office that rebates TO companies ng
gregating over 81 10000 should be made must leave
10 the dscernment of those more competent TO
Judge than am. Those rebates not made Jns' be
fore the close OF a Controllers term were nearly
all made not far from election time.
TO PLACE THE SHERIFF on SALARY.
Albany April 3--Bcfore the Assembly Cities Com
mtec to-day Charles A. Blandy. Assistant Corpora
ton Counsel OF Ne~-York. argued against the