Perth Amboy evening news., 1905-01-07
ATTORNEY GENERAL
ON TAX QUESTION
Continued rom age {

payment Of FRANCHISE and annual taxes
to its revenue. Ills income has been
swollen unusually during the last few
years by the formltiOn under our laws
of several large companies. which for
the want of II better name | will deSlg-
nate as trusts" | imagine. however
| that the period ,br the formation OF
| such companies lns about passed ana
that we may nv longer expect tho
large receipts from that source. Meall'
| time other CONFERENCE.-The nave OBJ
ierved with envidls eyes tho large rev
rnuc our state has thus been receiving.
and with the hgpe of sharing il not
monopolizing it themselves they have
either copied our corporation law OF
amended their own more literally IMAM
ours. The result is. that in Maine. New
York. Delaware and West Virginia. not
to speak of othcr states. there have
quite recently bfnn passed laws gov
erning miscellaneous corporations that
are claimed to be quite as availaolc as
and even more 50 than our own. Ad-
v~ertiscments have been distributed
broadcast drawing the attention OF
proposing iucorporatorS 10 the advan-
tages of these lays. and magazine artl-
cles and even book; have been written
to exploit them. The natural result
has followed. and ! am informed by
the secretary oE0 state that there mas
been A decided decrease in the forma-
-. C ,ul;,,,r. NAT ny npplin11X-
corporations and u marked Increase in
the number of dissolutions of the same
kind Of companies. OF course the reNe-
nue. of the state has suffered and. i'll
my Judgment. is bound to coItina" TO
Increasingly Suf,cr on this account. II
instead of our Lr.ng able TO rely on the
income we have received for IN" r1at
ten wears from miscellaneous corpora
tons | believe it will materially &c
crease in tho near future,
The railroads. however, arc here,
The fortunate location of the state
makes il in entrepot for many trunk
lines. They cannot and do not desire to
move away. They have been our rcli.
ance for stNtc revenue for over half Ii
century. I'll" StntH is non receiving a
little less than Sl.0O0,000 Il year from
them for state purposes. 1t has kept
pace with til" time and been enabled
to erect Il system Of schools md public
institutions. in my judgment, second to
none in this country. These cannot and
should not be abandoned. [ believe the
good people of this state would arise in
their might and quell any proposition
to dispense with any of them. There
| would be danger of a similar outOurst
if Il state tax on the property Of indt'
viduals should be suggested, and yet il
takes no booEkccpcr to see that. witt
the ordinary disbursements of the state
increasing. as they did in 1870" over the
previous year nearly half II million dol
lars. and there being no hope of the
| continuance of any such cXtraordinar!
| receipts as the interest ON wa
| bonds, amounting TO SlSO.O0O. or th'
! threefold increase in collateral inherit
| auce tax. which occurred III the yea
| 1908 owing to the settlement of th'
| Rogers estate. Il state tax is inevitable
| unless the present rcvenuc from rail
| roads is preserved to the state. Ihi'
revenue the state collects promptly
The law provides unusual remedies fo
! its recovery. Not one cont escapes
| This revenue has time for its vindica
/ ton and the courts for its Endorsement
This revenue the railroads are commit
ted to-. The plan of taxing the mail
| stem by the state and for the state i
| return for the right of eminent dolnail
10 acquire it'is MS Oil as the railroad
| themselves. The two have gone han
in hand. There is Il logical e~0nhectio
| between them. There must be som
| limit to the demands of the local con
munitieS upon the states revenue. Pr
| marily. all taxes. are state taxes. All
| those we commonly look upon as loca
| taxes are. in fact. donations from til
state to the several communities. \
is often the case, the grantee Of favor
bestowed has become hardened an
now actually demands more. The re;
relation of the interests. state and Il
cal. should not be overlooked. Th
state is not asking favors. 1t Onl
seeks TO retain and protect its own.
Gentlemen Of the commission. let III
again urge you To go slow i'll makin
: any recommendation that shall il