Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1898-10-20

knows so little as he does OF the sub
iect should be debarred from the ex-
ercise of the elective franchise. Ana
yet the representative from the western
district presents the foregoing as the
fulIness OF his knowledge on the sub
iect and the foundations for his con-
illusions ard he asks that because OF
his superior understanding OF the ques-
tion the people OF the district return
him TO Lansing and entrust the solu-
ton OF the problem to him.
MIR. Bricker, OF all the corporations
you refer 20 in the foregoing quotation
from your letter, there is not one the
amount OF whose tax depends on the
amount OF business done
Express companies do pay "A specific
tax of one per cent. on their gross re-
ceipts, but this is not in leu Of other
taxes, and every dollars worth OF
property they have in the state is SUBJ
iect to the same taxation where located
as is the property of any person at the
same place. (37l9 H. s.
Telegraph and telephone companies
are required to make a sworn state
ment Of their properties in the state,
aud their valuation is determined by
state board, who ascertain from the
returns Of delinquent taxes what the
average rate Of general, municipal and
local taxes levied throughout the state
was in the preceding year and levy the
same rate upon the property OF these
companies. (l237-43 II. s. Auditor
General Dix and Land Commissioner
French are members of this board and
have been recently charged by repre-
sentatives of the telephone companies
with assessing their properties too high
and taxing them too much fact that
Mr.. Bricker might have learned from
the public press.
The law for the specific taxation OF
mining companies was repealed by a
. legislature controlled by Mr.. Brokers
party, in 1891, and the property OF all
such companies is assessable in exactly
any of the corporations doing business
in Belding (Act l39 Of 1891 That
they were relieved TO IA large degree
from the payment of adequate taxes is
due to the very act that Mr.. Bricker's
party claimed so much credit for pass
ing, but that he has never heard Of.
:, The pinacle of absurdity Is reached
: in the concluding sentence quoted from
: the letter of the gentleman who has
> chosen to stake his claim To Il re-elec-
ton upon his superior knowledge OF
the subject of the taxation of corpora
tions. He's going TO repeal the charters
Of the companies in order to reach
them in the matter OF taxation
A large part Of the mining properties
in the upper peninsula are owned by
corporations organized under the laws
OF otheir states. hut the wise man from
!. Belding is going TO settle the whole
" question OF taxation by repeating theil
" charters. None Of them have any
:, charters from the state that give then
" any special privileges. All that arr
:, incorporated here are organized unde
general laws that are silent as to taxa
tion, leaving them subject TO the gen
eral tax law, as are also those incorpo
rated under the laws of other states
Representative Broker proposes to dc
- moralize large part of the bushes
:! OF the upper peninsula by purposeles
~ dissipation Of values through the dis
as organization OF the great enterprise
rd located there.