El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1900-02-09
THE NEW
TAX LAW
An Article That Won the
Fifty Dollar Prize.
SOME STRONG POINTS


Brought Out BY the Writer, Set
ting Forth How the New Law
Would Burden Industry And
Capital.
The following are the concludin G
arguments of L. S. Fawsett, of Hous-
ton, who won the prize offered by the
manufacturers association of that city
for the best article ON the new tax
law:
Second. The bill discriminates
against all of the classes named in tina t
il proposes to place q tax on all mort
cages and moneys loaned within the
state, thus putting labor and its pro-
ducts under double taxation; first in
the value of the property offered as
security, and, second, in the amount of
money loaned thereon.
There Is uuanimity of opinion every
where tn at the crying need in Texas
is for cheap money to be used in open
ing up and equipping farms, stocking
them, putting up buildings, furnish
ing provisions, putting in stores where
supplies may be obtained. building
manufacturers, raising live stock and
preparing it for market, and q score
of other things in which the classes
named have interest. The expenses
and risks in now obtaining it are such
as in large degree to be prohibitive.
. 1t Is proposed to tax moneys the same
as other property wherever found,
thus in effect making all loaDable
funds subject to double taxation by tax
ing all mortgages.
Will you tell US that. this will not
on u a
make its procurement more difficult
than now?
The bulk of moneys borrowed are
now at from to per cent with COM
missions added.
Suppose loan after this proposed
law goes into effect. Hitherto it was
obtained at per cent. Now he asks
s percent and then pays the tax on it;
has not the borrower really paid it?
OF this there is no question. So this
tax is an ssdded penalty paid by bust
ness and enterprise, but takes not
penny from the capitalist and the
heavy real estate owner.
Third. The railroads and other cor
poratfons are the natural allies and
friends of the classes under considera
tion. Without them produce would be
without value and without a market.
There would be little demand for
manufactures or their products. Build
ing would be discouraged and all forms
of labor cheapened where they were
not destroyed.
Yet this bill goes after them as if
they were public enemies. Every
form of ingenuity is taxed in devising |
means to fitch from them. Suppose it
prove successful. Will not those tb at
survive pass the burden on to the con-
sumner? Is not that largely the case
now? Has it not always been the case
in the past?
Where are the resident corporations |
among us that are not of public bene- |
fit? Can we get more of them by |
making it harder for any of them to |
live?
These corporations are directly TAX
ed and cross taxed on real estate, |
personal property, on stock on
ceipts.
Can peace reign in Warsaw only by |
an indiscriminsse slaughter of all |
life?
Honest labor and manly independ-
ence are stricken in the house of their
friends, and premium offered to land
1ordism, speculation in real estate, mo-
nopoly for. a few in earth's bounties
for all, and for the multitude, peonage
and humiliation.
These shs follow as the night the
day the enforcement of this BILL
Fourth. The exhaustive list of oc-
cupation taxes provided are principally
a penalty visited on endeavor rather
than a tax on values produced. By
them the soldier of fortune is fined
for going to war, rather than q per-
ceutage laid on the spoils that he cap
lures and brings home. He may not
make one dollar: he may lose the cap
ital he puts in, but all the same, when
he buckles on his armor and resolves
to try. his capital, if he has any, and
his credit, it he has not, Is seized by
the state he looks to as q protector,
and he must contribute to its support
or remain idle. Instead of a premium
offered on endeavOr, the only way he
can be sure of his capital is to lay it up
in a napkin.
Fifth. Banks are mediums of ex-
change, and to be encouraged. With
out them modern business can hardly
proceed. The bill meets them at arms
length, and by hedging about and
them with multitude of
onerous provisions. has done about all
that human ingenuity could devise to q,
cripple their usefulness, and to prevent
would-be depcsitors from placing their
ready money at the service of the bust
ness needs of the state.
Without these corporations, the
classes named in the question would {
all be, to large extent, out Of a Job.
Sixth. But as new occasions teach .
new duties,'' SO this commission wax
ing downward as it proceeds levies
not only the taxes above mentioned on :
railway, telegraph, telephone, sleeping E
car, palace car and dining car com
panies, but proceeds to overhaul their I
business and property outside this
II |