The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1907-05-09
Special to The Journal.

Special to The Journal
Tallahassee, May 9-In the Florida
senate. speaking to his bill to tax the
| franchise of public service corpora
tons at u per cent on gross earn
| ings, new enterprises to be exempt
FIVE years, Senator Trammell spoke
for some three hours and a half and
covered the subject very thoroughly
from a legal and an equitable stand
point. He spoke without manuscript
or notes and consequently his speech
cannot be published in full, however
| in part he said:
THE state of Florida collects as a
| license tax out of the merchant, the
| liveryman, the boarding house, res
| taurant, druggist, bank, the lawyer,
/ dentist and from various others en-
gagged in commercial enterprises an
Eually about four hundred thousand
dollars, the counties collect one half
this amount, while the cities collect a
sum about equal to that collected by
/ the counties. making a total of about
eight hundred thousand dollars that
the commercial enterprises and those
engaged in the minor affairs of bust
ness contribute to the support of the
state, county and city governments,
and this they pay over and above the
tax paid by them upon their real and
personal property. Throughout this
entire class, at least ninety per cent
of them are paying a license or privi-
( lege tax that amounts to more than
one half of one per cent, on their
gross receipts. This system of rails
| ing a portion of the revenue to sup
port the government is a well ground
| ed policy in the state of Florida, and
has b sen in voge for time immemorial;
whether the policy is right or wrong,
! it is one of the features of our taxa
ton scheme. and under it's mandate
the several thousand of our people
that come within its bounds contri-
butte about eight hundred thousand
dollars annually towards the mainte-
nance of the government.
Might Be Losing Money.
"The corporation interests of the state
say that we should not impose upon
them a franchise tax, either by the
way of gross receipts or otherwise,
because, in some instances this tax
would have to be paid by a company
that was losing money, and this would
be an injustice. In reply to this l wish
to ask if our taxing laws in their
every phase do not in some instances
work a hardship and apply unjustly.
as to enquire of him if he has been
blessed with a rich harvest before we
require of him a tax? Do We exempt
him from the tax burden because the
season has not yielded for him Suffi-
! cient funds to meet the demands upon
| him for the neceSSarieS of life? In
reply l would further ask If we are
so considerable of the merchant, the
| boarding house keeper, the man who
owns his home and various other tax
payers either by the way of direct tax
alton or upon the occupation or privi-
lege, as to consult his financial gains
and losses before We say unto him by
the mandate of the law, thou shall
contribute a certain amount of tax
or license tax to your government? No
Mr.. President, we are not so solicitous
for the well fare of the ordinary tax
contributor as to make such inquiry.
Treat All Tax Payers Alike.
Il say Mr.. President, that the mat
ter of making or losing money does
not control and has never controlled
Florida,s law makers when they come
to deal with placing a tax upon the
greater' masses of our property OWN.
ers andf business men, yet when We
come to- deal with taxing these public
utility corporations, these corpora
tiOns which enjoy valuable rights
granted y the state. they insist, that
we mustnot impose upon them n fran
chise tax either directly or by way Of
Ia smallt percentage upon their gross
earnings because. the tax may fall
upon some company that is not max
ing handsome dividends. Why the dis
tinction? Why ask the favOritiSm in
favor of the public service corpora
Ation? Is 1t possible Mr.. President.
bthat any one can claim that the
rights of the public utility corpora
itions are more sacred than those of
ithe individual citizens of our great
lstate? The supreme court of the Unit
ey1 States says in the Adams Express