The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-01-27
MAY CALL
 LEGISLATURE Serious Question Before the Governor. STATE TAXES CONTESTED Foreign Corporations Dealt with by Compromise Board. Governor Cunninghani Issues state- ment as to the situation--Matter
 Rests on Decision of su-
 preme Court.
STATE TAXES CONTESTED

| Legislature were yesterday morning created by an order of the State Board of Compromise In the matter of privi- lege taxes on foreign corporations.
 Large corporations with foreign charters, doing business in this State. threaten to attack the validity of the act of the last iegislatufe imposing l privilege tax on certain foreign cor porations of one-tenth of one per cent or the capital employed in Alabama If this law is declared unconsti- tutional there will be no law at all regulating privilege taxes on all for-. eign corporations except railroad, teIe- | graph, long distance telephone, ex- press and sleeping car, life and other insurance companies, building and loan associations. banks and banking associations. Such an event would curtail the revenue of the States over | $50,000 annually.
 l An extra session ot tho legislature would, therefore, be we'll considered. Acting Governor Cunningham yester- day admitted the gravity of tho sit- 1 uation.
 Discussed by Governor. | If the law is held invalid the Gov ernor said. {" 1t will raise the serious question of calling the legislature to- gether inasmuchs as it Involves the States revenue.
 "of course, if the legislature is called together 1t will be determined by it as to what the equitable rate should be. whether one-tenth or great | er."
 | If these things happen the blame will be laid upon the legislature of 1908. because a defect in the passage, the affected corporations avow, will be proven
 These things were not menacing in l 1eOs, because those few corporations who saw the lighting chAn.e irfvrnea the Board of Compromise that they would not pay the one-tenth If one per cent They were willing to pay the license fee under the old law which grades the tax according to the amount of the total capital stock.
 With these few corporations the Board of Compromise effected a set clement by which they paid specific amount short of what was due under the new law.
 The same isolated corporations are insisting that they will not pay the one-tenth of one per cent for 1905. Their counsel have decided that they will attack the revenue law and carry 1t to the highest tribunal in the land, if they are ordered by the State Board to make the payment.
 Fight WuI Come Soon.
 The Board yesterday morning issued the, order for full payment under the requirements of tho new law. There- fore, the fight will be on soo9, accord ing to the predictions of those high up."
 The action of the State Board yes- terday grew out of an order in the l ha Company of Tuscaloosa County. This foreign corporation had refused to pay one tenth of one per cent of the cap ital employed in the State. The taxes in dispute were for the year 1904 and following the precedent set in other cases of the same year, the Board made a concession, which reduces the taxes due from the protesting cor- poration to $500.
 The Board however took occasion | to declare generally that hereafter the payments must be made without ex- ception in full as required by the new law.
 The report of the Board made yester- day was as follows:
 Tn the matter of the application of the Central Coal and Iron Company for compromise and settlement of the priv ilege taxes due the State of Alabama for the year 1904.
 order of the Board. Tn this matter, after due considera- ton, we are of the opinion that 1t would be equitable and just to allow said corporation to pay $500 as the license or privilege tax due by 1t as foreign corporation to the State of Ala bama for the year 1904. It is, there fore, ordered and directed that upon the payment of the said sum of $500 to the Probate Judge of Tuscaloosa County 1 for the State of Alabama, said corpo- ration be and 1t is relieved from any other or further payment on account of license or privilege tax for the year 1901, or by virtue of any proceeding which may have been instituted to en- l force the payment of said tax to the State of Alabama.
 "The reasons upon which this con cIusion is based are set out in similar cases in which compromises were made with foreign corporations during the year 1904 but 1t Is not considered as a precedent to be followed for the pres ent year.
 This the 26th day of January. 1905.
 R. NJ Cunningham. Lieutenant and Acting Governor; T. L. sowell. State Auditor: Massey Wilson, Attorney General"
 State Filings Defiance. Thus has the defiance been flung and the State drawn the lines of war with recalcitrant corporations. The calling of a special session of the Legislature almost depends upon the question of whether the Supreme Court will kill the new revenue law by answering for itself the following questions:
 Was the act of the Legislature pass ed within five days of adjournment of the last session?
 Did the bill originate in the House of Representatives or the Senate? Did the bill pass at all according to the record?
 Of course. this does not involve col | lectively the revenue law of the State, but only tho act of amendment ap- proved September 30. 1903. This act, as has been said before, alters the method of taxing foreign corporations, making them liable for one-tenth of ] one per cent Of the capital h the State