Omaha daily bee., 1903-02-21
Public Service Corporations to Be Assessed
on Their Gross Receipts,
BINDING ON THE INSURANCE COMPANIES
Rouse Has Revenue Bill of His Own
Which he May Introduce,
DOUGLAS MEN EXPLAIN THEIR POSITION
Assert They VIII Present a Majority
Report ON the south Omaha
Charter Bill Regarding
Railway Terminals.
CFrom a stan Corre,nondentl

the house adjourned today until Monday
the revenue bill would have been intro
duced tomorrow. The subcommittee ad-
ministered the final touches today, closed
up its operations aud has the bill ready
for submission to the house, 1t had planned
to introduce the measure in the house
Saturday morning, but TIE house caused a
further delay in this important piece OF
legislation by deciding not 10 hold a ses-
sion tomorrow. The committee will intro
duce the Till Monday one said today.
Some notable changes have been made
in the bill. The most vital is one provid-
Ing that all street railway electric light,
gas and telegraph companies, as we'll as
telephone oomparies, shall be assessed
locally on their gross receipts as fran
chises In edition 20 the regular assess
ment levied on their tangible property.
This clause provides that all these corpora
tions shall be assessed locally On their tan
gible property the tame as any other prop
erty and in addition shall be assessed on
their gross receipts for the next year pre-
ceding the first day OF February OF the cur
rent year. such gross receipts to be taken
and considered in the total as an item Of
property and be so listed and levied against
the same as other property. Such gross
receipts shall represent the franchise VAL
uation. which shall not be otherwise as
sessed"
The original bill, as was stated in The
Bee some time ago. providing for the as
sessment Of the gross receipts Of telephone
companies as their franchises, but only
within the last day or two we're the other
companies included this provision.
INSURANCE. Company Provision.
Another important amendment Is section
S. which reads:
Each and every fire insurance company
transacting business in this state, except
mutual companies that operate on the
assessment plan. have no capital stock, and
make no dividends, shall be taxed in the
county, town. city, village and school dis
trict where the agent conducts the busi-
ness upon the gross amount of the pre-
miums received by II from the insurance
written upon property within the state dur
ceipts to be taken as an item OF property
of that value and to be assessed and taxed
property. The agent shall render the list
and be personally liable for the tax. III he
davit that the same is correct the amount
may be valued and assessed according TO
the best information of the assessor.
The idea OF this provision is to compel
the insurance companies to submit all their
taxable property to taxation and prevent
evasion Of assessment on intangible af-
fairs.
the revenue bill. It Is obvious enough
! that the measure, so far as IL is known,
does not command universal approval. The
| ultra revisionists are convinced that their
| hopes are, in a large measure, blasted,
| since the paramount Issue has not been
met In other words they feel that ade-
| quate provision for bringing the railroads
to time, for compelling them to pay their
fair share of taxes. is lacking almost as
much as before the long work Of drafting
this bill was undertaken. Therefore It is
evident that when the bill starts on Its
course through the legislature II will meet
with some distractions The committee
that framed the bill gave out some time
! ago that every member would stand shoul-
der to shoulder for the bill. No different
statement has since been made
Rouse Has n Bill.
Evidence of opposition to the revenue
bill may be found in the fact that Rouse OF
Hall-one of the most aggressive men on
the floor Of the house-has prepared a
bill which, as was published in The Bee
this afternoon, seeks to cover a section
In the present law which the author be-
lieved was not provided for by the rev
bill. This section was that relating to the
method Of foreclosure on delinquent land
the tax was four years delinquent sold to
the highest bidder. regardless Of the amount
of the tax and tax decree against them.
and allow the owner to redeem the property
within eighteen months. exacting interest
at the rate Of 6 per cent for any time up
| TO six months and 1 per cent additional
for every month thereafter, compelling the
redeemer TO pay all the amount OF the
decree, but allowing no redemption to be
made for less than the amount Of the de-
cree. The state, county or any city may
bid the land in for taxes held against the
property by them.
The bill does not meet the approval Of the
revenue committeeman and some of them
have already endeavored to dissuade Mr.
Rouse from introducing It. II is said that
they have threatened to line UP against
the Rouse bill II the latter persists IN
pushing it. Rouse said today he was not
sure what he would do. A statement II
attributed TO him, however. 20 the effect
that he Is entirely out OF sympathy witt
the work OF the revenue committee and
there is no assurance that he, with the aid
OF a few other prominent men In the
house, will not strew some thorns along
the path OF the revenue bill
Perry Of Furnas has been picked as an
other OF the republican leaders who will
line up against the revenue bill. Whai
the fusionists will do is hard TO tell. Theii
leader. Loomis Of Dodge, is on the COM
lnittee that framed the bill.
Minority Report on Charter,
Nelson and Gilbert, the Douglas county
members of the house committee on citie,
and towns, informed a correspondent o.
The Bee this morning that they would sub
nit a minority report on the adoption O.
the South Omaha charter bill which las
night the committee. with these gentlemen
present, voted to recommend for passage
The significance OF the Douglas countl
mems position is that the bill was amended
by Roberts OF Dodge, providing that rail
road terminals in South Omaha should b
assessed on the figures returned by tn
State Board OF Equalization and not by di
rect assessment OF the city, thus precludinl