The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1900-12-10

unlimited scope. AS councils may
| deem Just ana equitable" is the man
| ner In which the statutes prescribe the
| city's powers in this regard.
| These special taxes in Pittsburg and
! Allegheny were imposed by II business
| tax ordinance. plttsburg. however.
| gradually eliminated these taxes uni!
! now not even remnant Of the Ofui-
nance remains. Allegheny imposed n
| tax OF one mill on the dollar of sales,
| and In the matter OF banks one mill on
the dollar of business. Allegheny, fol-
| lowing the example of Pittsburg. has
decided to do away with the business
| tax after this year.
An exception is made in the matter
of street car companies. In Pittsburg
the cars are taxed at the rate OF $50 u
year for cars that are run on lines
| wholly within the city. and $50 for cars
on lines extending outside the city linz
, its. Allegheny imposes Il uniform tax
of two per cent. on the gross receipts
of its trolley companies. This stands
in lieu Of all other taxes.
AS Applied Here.
BY applying the provisions of this
law to Scranton. Il goodly portion of
the burden now borne by real estate
can be lifted. The local trolley COM
pany, it is understood is agreeable to
tax of two per cent. on its gross re-
ceipts and likely would not protest very
hard against IL three per cent. levy.
Banking institutions, telegraph, tele-
phone electric light and water COM
panies. which now entirely escape city
taxes. except on realty. can be made
g-I,,, ,r t1,n
expenses of the city on which they
thrive. and If the expressions of the
city officials of Scranton count for
aught, they will be assessed when the
city enters the second class.
The water company. electric light
companies and telegraph and telephone
companies, which enjoy extremely valu-
able franchises. are to be made objects
of special attention when the special
tax ordinance is being drafted. AS
lobbying. or rather methods of lobby
ing that have so successfully obtained
heretofore should be considered some
what hazardous for time at least,
there is, it would seem. Il pretty fair
chance of the city officials being per-
mitted to deal with this matter with
out being hanpered by extraneous in
iluences.
AS previously mentioned, the in
creased price of liquor licenses ought
to largely INCREASE the city's revenues,
but it is probable that the increase will
have a tendency to largely reduce the
number of licensed dealers. The fact
that the unlicensed dealers have been
cleaned out may have the effect of so
increasing the earnings of the licensed
nj lynt nF q
new price for q license without expert
encing any great hardship.
A Big Increase
In round numbers there are 200 retail
liquor dealers in the city. The new
license will cost them $l,100 apiece, and
Of this amount $3.50 goes to the city.
This would mean a revenue from this
source of $11G.000. or twice as much as
it is at present This is exclusive of
the brewery licenses, which will add
enough to make it fair to say that in
round numbers the liquor revenues
under the new classification will BE-
S1S0,000. In Allegheny this revenue
amounted to $16l,140 last year. Ale
sheny it must be remembered. Is q
city without Il theatre or daily paper.
Its drink, like it's reading and amuse-
ments. is very likely supplied by Pitts
burg in a large degree.
The present occupation tax is abol-
ished by Second-class city legislation
and in it's stead Il poll tax of 81 is as
SesSed against every resident taxable.
This would mean Il revenue of about
$50, 600 considerable increase over
what is now collected.
Some sources OF revenue Scranton
can avail itself of under the new char
ter or in some cases even now, are in,
dicated by the following items from
AlleSheny's statement of resources for
last year.
lcduieIS i'eh>tN ..'.'..',.......,...., |.Wl w
Interest daily balances in banks .... II .lG6 ~
Allegheny Illuminating company ...... 5,24l 30
j. \. " NJ. Traction company .,...... 1850 90
North side Traction company .......... 1926 5j
Another source of revenue, or, more
strictly speaking, IL great means of
saving, the second-class city system of
collecting delinquent taxes is to be
treated in a future article.