The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-10-26
THE NINE TAX AMENDMENT.

We doubt if a Philadelphia lawyer
could extract the meaning of the pro-
posed amendment to the constitution
that stands on the official ballot under
the captivating title of IAN amend
ment to authorize the taxation of sleep
ing car companies and other companies
and owners" The complexity in which
this cumbrous amendment is involved
begins when the taxation Of the land
others" is reached. The use of these
words recalls that other notorious meas
ure that crept, or rather stole, its way
through the legislature some ten years
ago in which it was found later, and
when too late, that the innocent words
land others relieved railway corpo-
ratioa of the payment of taxes amount
Ing to something near a million dollars.
1t may be unjust to connect the two
and suspect another niger in the
woodpile" in this amendment because
the same words are used, but if sus-
picion does attach it is due to the pos
sibilities of construction in the Ian
guage.
1t is worth while to attempt an anal
ysis of the amendment to see what it
really aims at beside the taxation of
sleeping car companies. 1t must be
borne in mind that since 1879 the iron
mines have paid tax of one cent a
inr he toll
one-half of which went to the state, the
other half to the county, and that the
attorney general has held the tax I'M
constitutional. Now let US cut out
from this amendment all superfiuous
verbiage and all matter relating to
everything but the mines, and see what
1t proposes to do for them and their
owners. Thus stripped 1t provides:
THE legislature may impose
upon the property within this state of
all owners or operators of any and all
mines or mineral ores situated within
this state :. and upon the proper
ty Of such companies or owners.
tax as uniform as reasonably may be
with taxes imposed upon similar prop
erty or upon the earnings with
In the state . d. and in providing
Tor such tax >. it shall be compe-
tent to impose such tax upon
any or all property thereof in the state
taking as basis the proper
tlonate quantity of production
Of such companies or owners" 1t fur
ther provides that the taxes on mining
property shall be distributed between
the state and the various political sub
divisions thereof wherein the same is
situated in the same proportion as the
proceeds of taxes upon real property
are distributed
The difficulty with this amendment
IS that the person or persons who
drafted it attempted to cover too much
ground. to include too many wholly
different matters in it, with the inevita-
BILE result of becoming involved in ex-
preston, but we have fully and fairly
extracted the provisions as they affect
or relate to the property of mine own
crs. The first thing that strikes the
etteRti On is the sweeping inclusion OF
the property" Of mine owners. There
is no concise limitation to the mines
owned or operated, but it includes all
their property and might be construed
20 extend to property not related to
mines or mining. It might EXEMPT
from direct taxation stores, farms and
personal property or residences. A
strict construction would warrant this.
TIE words owners or operators" may
wei be taken to be merely descriptive
CT the persons whose property is in,
Guided in the method Of taxation pro-
vsded. Courts have similarly construed
words Of like import, even where the
intention Of the parties was to use
them In representative sense. The
tax is to be uniform" with that levied
upon similar property" provision
that has no bearing on mines unless
1t lie to preclude Discrimination between