The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1905-02-04

". a. BOWEN.
Immediately upon the conclusion OF
the reading Mr. Wakefield. for the com.
mittee, said that no attempt had been
made in the report to draft tax law.
I 1t was, in fact, no part of the bust
ness of the committee to frame a law.
What had been done was merely to af-
ford the members of the Association
some suggestions in the line of securing
better conditions, and he would now
suggest that the report be taken up and
the sense of the meeting had upon it by
sections.
President Smith said the report would
| be so taken up, and read Section One of
| the report as follows:
l. Real Property. Except as herein
provided all real property within the
Territory of Hawaii, shall be subject to
! a tax of l per cent on the cash value
| of the same.
Mr.. Bowen, upon the conclusion of the
reading, said that if his suggestion to
refer the whole taxation problem to :,
/ JOINT committee should be favorably
considered, then it might be we'll to re-
( fer this section to a joint committee.
If the idea of Aggregate Values
were done away with in the tax law, it
might then be found that one per cent
tax would not be enough to run the gov
, eminent. Still, we should all strive for
the one per cent rate. IN fact, if we
should recommend anything else, we
would be apt to find that we had raised
considerable storm. If the matter
were referred to larger committee of
the joint bodies, it might be that they
would find that a larger rate was nee
essary.
President Smith remarked that the
remarks of Mr.. Bowen were pertinent
but in his view, il the government
found that it needed more than one per
cent to run upon, then it should reduce
its expenses, as the businesses were
sometimes compelled to do.
Mr.. Bowen raised the point here that
if the matter was to be referred to a
joint committee, then it might not be
wise to discuss this report at all, as
having a tendency to bind the commit
tee of the Merchants Association to
adherence to this declaration.
Mr.. Wakefield thought that discus
sion would be valuable as a guide to the
committee, while binding the associa-
ton to nothing.
Mr.. Hooking said that the Tax AS
SCISSOR had told him he wanted to raise
the tax rate to one and one-half per
cent. He thought that the report should
be considered by joint committee, as
proposed by Mr.. Bowen.
Mr. Lewis approved of Bowen's sug-
gestion, and w. w. Harris said that he
thought it was a valuable one, and
would save time. If one per cent would
not give revenue enough, then certainly
the people would have to stand another
tax. He asked Bowen what difference
it would make in the amount received
if the tax were made higher on real
Mr.. Bowen answered that he did not
know certainly. He added that it might
be found that one per cent would be
enough. At least, we should all strive !,
for one per cent.
The discussion continued along these ;
lines, and at last section two of the re-
port, upon the determination of the ,
value of real estate, was taken up It
was the opinion of Mr. Trent that this
was a matter that could be better
reached by a Board of Equalization,
and President Smith said that it had
0een stated informally that the Gov
ernor would recommend the creation of
Board of Valuation to be composed
If citizens not taxassessors, and that
his board would probably fix values
,efore assessments were made.
Paragraph three was passed, defining
cal property, and paragraph four was
AIKEN up in connection with paragraph
inc, as was recommended in Mr.. Bow
n s letter. This is paragraph nine:
SO. Definition of Personal Property.
he term Personal Property for the
urposes of this Act, shall mean and in d.
ude all household furniture, effects, J.
swelry, watches, goods, chattels, wares
nd merchandise, machinery ships or r
essels, whether at home or abroad, all ;.
oneys in hand, Ieasehold and chattel .
terest in land and real property, fran =
Uses, patents, contracts, growing .
ops, public stocks and bonds not ex-
lpted by law from taxation, and al g.,
finals not herein specifically taxed.
Mr.. Bowen made the point, AMI 81
.ongly, that there should be no pro- be
sion concerning the taxation % mere co
licences of wealth which We're not in