Albuquerque morning journal., 1907-02-20

the Iult9 anu NilHoul ooJtttinhs
Council Passes Revenue. law
The council this morning completed
consideration of council bill No. 33,
/ the new revenue law. in committee of
| the whole. and after approving the
I bill in committee. recommended It's
passage.
The committee then arose and the
council proceeded 10 pass the bill by
I vote of 10 to =. Messrs. Dalies and
| Richards voting no. The objection OF
! Messrs. Dalies and Richards TO the
I bill was based on an amendment
made in committee regarding the
/ taxation of sheep. The amendment
provides that sheep shall be taxed in
| the counties in which the owners re-
side. Mr. Dalies made an Intellectual
effort in committee this morning 10
have this amendment stricken out. He
said that the amendment was an IN
| Justice to counties i'm which large
herds of sheep owned in other cOun-
I ties are grazed during certain seasons
I of the year on the public domain. The
question is an old one and one which
! has been argued in many legislatures
/ in the past Two years ago law was
passed allowing sheep to be taxed in
, the counties where they Craze, or
not been found satisfactory, however,
owing to the inability of assessors TO
4 locate sheep al the proper time Tor
tgssessment. and to the constant NOV
ing of the herds from one county TO
another, sheep often grazing over sew
eral counties in the course of a single
season. The opponents of the amend
ment claim that the sheep, which use
the public range in any given county,
and which are afforded police protec-
ton in that county should contribute
to the support Of the county. Presi-
dent Spess took the floor in defense
of the amendment, showing the mi
gratory character Of sheep and the
imuosibiity Of properly assessing
them in any other way than by taxing
them in the county in which the own
er has his residence. The amend
ment was sustained by a vote of to
3. Messrs DaliCs, Richards and Mur-
ray voting AGAINST the amendment.
The bill was passed without fur
ther amendment 1t is a measure
which has been carefully drawn and
very carefully considered by the
council and is believed to fill the long
standing need for a revenue law
which will prove adequate both for
the assessment and the collection of
many of the penalties contained in
the original bill but it is still believed
to be sufficiently stringent in its pro-
visions to enforce compliance both on
the part of taxpayers and officials.
The bill in several of its provisions Is
copied from the Kansas revenue law.
which has been construed by the
Kansas courts and which has been
found satisfactory.
The council also passed this morn
ing Mr.. Murry's bill extending t0
cities Incorporated under special
charters the provisions of the law
allowing Incorporated cities TO order
and enforce the construction Of side
walks Silver City, Mr.. Murray's home
is incorporated under a special char
ter and the law is aimed to extend
the provisions Of the existing statute
to that city
The council then adjourned unit
Wednesday morning at 10 o'clocl@
The District Attorney Bill
The councilmen gave their time
this afternoon to committee meetings
and this evening meeting of the
= committee on judiciary was held ir
the rooms of Chairman Dalies in the
| Palace hotel This committee has
charge of the district attorney bill
and the meeting of the committee ha'
revived the rumors of an attempt tC
% pass the bill in the council
While there is reason to believe
! that the committee considered tonigh
what disposition to make of the bill
! it is not believed that there ar,
e enough votes in the council to secur,
its passage The strenuous efforts o
the end of last week to change th
attitude Of certain cOunCilmen on thi
% measure have thus far failed com
- pletely, and while slightly differen
- tactics are now being pursued, ther
is up to tonight no evidence of an
; change Of position on the part of an
Il member of the council.