The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1905-12-18
'sTiiit Ecls [. Axiom W EST VIZ;
GINA.

GINA.
GoTerhor WIN. N. o. Dawson has an
lnteresting articls on %Tax Legislation
III west yirgtrins III the current issue
ofpcoal, pubIishedlh Pittsburg. What
| the governor says on the leasehold tax
IS Of special interest both from gem
oral and a local point Of view, hence
we give his words In full:
partly because they believed that
the proposed license taxes could not
be passed by the State Senate, and
partly for other reasons, the friends Of
tax reform proposed to tax the produc-
tion Of coal, oil and gas by way of tax.
Ing the leaseholds. In this State most
Of the coal produced is leased; that Is,
the coal operator, whether a corpora
Rtion, a person or a partnership, leases
all the coal under certain tract OF
land from the owner Of the freehold,
agreeing TO pay him certain royalty,
usually ten cents a ton, for all such coal
mined, and agreeing to mine all mer.
charitable coal, and usually agreeing
to mine so much per year. | consider
these leases sales in fact. You may
call them conditional sales, If you like,
but in fact, and in good law, think
they are sales. although the convey
ance Is in the form Of a lease, and usu
ally stipulates that It is to last for Il
certain definite time-twenty-flve Or
thirty years, hut adding the clause
"and until all such coal is mined" This
gives the lessee absolute control over
the coal so long as he complies with
the terms OF the contract or condition.
al sale.
"Our Supreme Court, following de-
cisions In Pennsylvania and some 9th
er States, had held, in the case of the
South Penn Oil Co. VS.. the Circuit
Court Of Marion county, report ed in /.
w. Va. Reports, that such leases could
not be assessed as real estate, but if
assessed at all would have to be as
sessed rs personal property.
Remembering this decision, the
friends of tax reform, in the session OF
1905, had enacted law to tax these
leasehOld estates as personal property
This was tested by certain coal, oil and
gas interests, but the law was upheld
by a unanimous decision of our Su.
preme Court of Appeals, as well as
by two of our Circuit Judges, Judge
John W. Mason, of the Circuit Court
of Monongalia county, delivering a
very able opinion, in which he, as well
1 as the Supreme Court, upheld the
leasehold taxation, both as good law
and good morals, and as neither wrong
in law nor wrong in Justice. So that
the law in West Virginia now taxes
coal by taxing the value Of the free
hold to the owner thereof, and the val
ue of the leasehold to the owner Of 1t,
in order to tax the whole value Of the
property. The same thing applies to
oil and gas. These properties are tax
ed according to their value, just like
the property of merchants, manufac'
turers, mechanics and other persons,
and it Is hard to see why it Is not just
and right, or why it should be resisted.
1.-THE new tax laws have already viz
dictated themselves in the reduction Of
taxes. The State tax this year is TWEEN
| ty cents, whereas heretofore 1t has al.
ways been thirty flve cents on the 500
Euf valuation. The new tax laws strict.
| " limit the expenditures by counties,
districts and municipal corporations.
It Is conservative to say that out Of ey'
cry onehundred tax payers of the
State, ninety of them have had sub,
stantial reductions in their taxes this
year, and next year, when the new laws
have gone fully into force, there will
be still greater reduction.
1T was certain, under the old laws,
that the great wealth Of this State con-
tanned in coal, oil and gas. was not
paying anything like just share OF
taxes. II this had not been so patent,
tax reform never would nave won
against the tremendous organization
and the large expenditure of money
that opposed it. TAX reforners," as
they are called in this State, are Meth
er cranks, anarchists nor haters of cor
porations Every member Of the Tax
Commission was large tax payer, a
man of property and among the most
conservative in the State. A few Of
them were corporation attorneys. One
the largest farmer In the State, anoth
er the larges. Individual tax payer In
the State. 1t Is ridiculous to refer ia
such men as Hubbard. Holt, Davis
Thompson and Williams as other than
emineRty conservative citizens.
ut would make this article too long
! to traverse the opinions OF Judge Ma
son aad If the SapreaaO Court I CEN
mead them to the perGsAl Of the reaa
ers Of your magazine"