The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1897-02-24
TAXATION.
The Reeves Mine Taxation Bill Discussed
by j b Cotton.

byJ. Ii. Cotton
j. B. Cotton, OF Duluth who on the
9th inst. delivered an address in oppo-
stion TO the Reeves bill before the
tax and tax laws committee of the
state house OF representatives, has re-
ceived many requests for copies of the
same. He has just completed Il copy
of the speech, and while it covers 81
type written pages and is too long to
reproduce A number of points con-
tanned therein support the position
taken by many of the citizens of the
county.
He took the stand that the bill is
wrong in principle, in that it seeks to
take from the people Of st. Louis
county the right of assessing and tax
ing purely local industry, and that
the bill can no more be supported on
principle han could be the declara-
tion by the legislature to the people
OF Hennepin county, You shall no
longer retain in your own hands the
power to regulate the taxes upon your
milling industry or to the people of
Ramsey. 1.-The state board of equali-
cation shall henceforward assess and
levy the takes upon your wholesale
and retail interests" or to the South
ern counties, 1.-THE tax upon your
grains and produce shall be nxed by
the state board Of equalization"
He argued that the introduction of
| the bill must be taken as proof that
its originator believed that there is
some wrong to be righted. some mis-
take to be corrected. The nature of
the bill. he said, suggested that the
Imagined wrong that the originator
sought to correct must be the under
valuation of the mines. and the pay
ment by them of less than their pro-
portionate share of the taxes of the
county and state. He declared HIM
self ready to demonstrate two propo-
ion of affairs as this does exist it is in
no means due to the shortcomings Of
the present law, but to the enforce
ment Of it, and that the change pro-
posed in the method of is enforce
ment would give rise to opportunity.
/ for still greater evil than now exists.
Second, that the mines are neither
undervalued or undertaxed, when
compared with all other classes of
property in the state of Minnesota,
nor are they UNDERMINED nor under
taxed at all.
In support of his proposition that
the fault. if fault there be. is not
with the present law, the address cites
the fact that the Reeves bill does not
seek to change the present basis of
taxation Of the mines, but only to
change the method, and that hence
the originator recognizes that the
basis of taxation is correct. Relative
| to the evils that would be made pos
sible by a changes in the method of
enforcement of the law, he said in
part: Il entertain most profound
respect for the state board of equali-
cation, but 1 am not willing to confess
| that it knows more concerning the
values of the iron properties of ST.
Louis county than the people that
| live there, and the assessors and other
taxing powers that are there upon the
grounds. Neither am l willing to
confess that the people of ST. Louis
county need guardian, in that they
are incompetent and incapable and
unwilling to tax the various classes of
property lying within that political
subdivision.
The well known attitude Of the
people of ST. Louis county toward the
mining interests in regard to the pay
ment of taxes is recited, and the adj
dress recounts the action of the
county board of equalization last fall
in raising the valuation OF the mines
20 per cent after the returns by the
local assessors had been volun tarily
raised by the mining men over 100 per
cent; making the valuation for pur-
poses of taxation s6,000.000 and the
tax for 1896, sl27 600. From this the
theory is advanced that there would
be much better opportunity for
some or all of the mines to obtain a
lower valuation from the state board
than il forced to run the gauntlet of
local assessors, local town boards of
review and county commissioners,
working directly under the eye of the
public vitality interested and bound to
see that the iron interests do their
share towards paying the public ex-
pense, upon which public the assess
ing officers are directly dependent for