Omaha daily bee., 1902-08-17
d rHrtR .roR.

Dfdskd concerning hAaIlOn IN keneIhl
and railroad taxation in particular, It
was expected that the tax agents would
try hard to Guido themselves. In this
instance. however, the truth Of the old
adage that you can fool some of the
people some Of the time, but you can't
fool all Of the people all Of the time" is
again forcibly exemplihed by the four
latest bulletins, which, instead Of en-
tightening the people, in reality try to
make confusion worse COMPOUNDED"
Taking as their text the ensus re-
ports for 1900 relative to the condition
of manufactures in Nebraska, the rail
road tax agents build up a pyramid of
meaningless figures for the purpose OF
proving that the manufacturers of Ne
braska pay only IL per cent of their
net earnings for taxation, while the
railroads are taxed 10 per cent of their
net earnings. While this comparison
of net profits is positively irrelevant
and immaterial to the issue, the figures
bear on their face the stamp of fiction
and false deduction.
Every school boy knows that taxation
in Nebraska is not assessed against In
come, but on property value, and 1t
would not matter a scintiila whether the
mills, factories and packing houses of
Nebraska earned billions and trillions
for their owners, or whether they were
idle or running at a loss. The taxes
are levied not on the profits of the mill
and factory, but upon the packing house,
the mill, the factory and the plant.
Millions of bushels of wheat or corn
pass through a grain elevator, but the
owner of the elevator pays taxes only
on value Of the structure and machinery.
To compare the profits of factories
and mills with railroad earnings would
be about as rational as would be to tax
the railroads ON the value Of all the
merchandise and products they trans
port. A sample brick of the confOund-
ing tax bureau figures is reported in
their estimate of the earnings Of news
papers in this state. According to
bulletin No. AZ, the value of the prod
uct of the newspapers in Nebraska in
1900 was $~2,553,O51, the cost of produc-
ton $1,S71,549 and the net profit $751;
SOP. With such a showing the tax
agents figure that Nebraska newspapers
are paying only LA per cent of their net
profits for the maintenance of state,
county and municipal government. As
q matter Of fact, a high estimate of the
,r,I,,o 30 Ahn nrOdrnofg 81 oil kha noUa-
papers Of Nebraska in 1900, exclusive
Of job work, does not exceed $1,50O,OO0,
and their aggregate net profits, instead
of being 1851, 500, have scarcely reached
Si00,000 in any one OF the last three
years.
The last double-shOtted volley fired by
the railroad commando is directed at the
Nebraska bankers and money lenders.
According to the tax ~bureaucrats, the
Nebraska bankers are the worst tax
STRIKERS of them all. With a capital
and surplus Of more than $22,000.O00
and deposits Of over $76.OOO.OOO, the
bankers are charged with returning
only A per cent Of their capital for taxa
ton and with being taxed ON an in
hnitesimal fraction of 1 per cent on
their credits. To make it more specific,
the bureau has figured 1t out that the
banks pay % per cent OF their net earn
ings in taxes, while the railroads pay
10 per cent of their net earnings for
taxes.
Without attempting to analyze the
calculation by which this conclusion is
reached, it should be noted that a
large percentage Of the bank deposits
consist of public money deposited by
state, county and municipal t%reasurers,
postmasters, customs officers, paymas-
tiers, etc, that are by law exempt from
taxation. Much Of the capital of the
banks is also in the form of national
bonds, that are not taxable. But If
the startling figures Of the tax bureau
were absolutely correct, how would that
fact justify the state board in refusing
to add the value of the railroad fran
chises to the value Of the tangible prop
erty in making their assessment
The natural inference to be drawn
from the latest railroad bulletins is that
the dust throwers and fog distributors
are trying to brighten the bankers and
manufacturers into making common
cause with the railroads against equi-
table taxation, but we apprehend their
bombshell will prove a boomerang.