Weekly Arizona journal-miner., 1907-02-27
nAkLo DrftNcL
 of DORAI, BILL
Attorney Leroy Anderson Declares h' Measure Is Meritorious And Says l. Will Almost Double The Taxes of The United Verde Copper Company


 ,ran,portauon, nothing for supplies or labor
 "Thc people represent are not committed to any one kind of bill, but they recognize that something should bc done to cqualilc taxation among mines. For instance, one mine is as' srsscd bv the assessor of this county at sl .0oO 900, and another, located in an. other county, producing twice as much ore, is assessed by the local assessor there at about half that figure Where as. if we had the bullion tax, each mine would pay its propor,ionatc share, ac' rordng to its production The 20 per cent of inc gross products in the Dorm bill is an arbitrary mel proceeds and ranges from to j per cent higher than any mining state in the Union. Take inc actual results of the nct pro. cccds law of all inc mining states, and the nct proceeds under those average from lO 'o lj per cent of the gross out put. Therefore, you can see that the Doran lll K thc most radical of any mining law. Under the Doran bill the taxes of Ihc United Verde would be al. most double what they are now, and you can readily see that they are in an attitude to attempt to force any such measure through, as some have in timatcd. hui they were in good faith, taking il to hr that there was n gen cral understanding between the mining intcrcs, and thc administrations, t.at the bullion taN was the proper and de. sired way of taxation. Rather than stand out and oppose any such meas urr flor they understood it was agree. able to nearly everyone, including the governor. they agreed to iI, rcalizing how much ir would cost them, but also knowing that thc law would apply equally upon all the great producer. throughout the Territory. They alsC
 realized that this bill would almost double their own taxes and would in crease the assessment roll of Nnvapa
 county over Sl,Uuo,nOp. and that il
 would lower the assessed valuation oi
 ihc small producers oi the county.
 "Thc figures given to thc board ol
 supervisors were given under mis
 apprehension of the real idea of th,
 Doran bill. l mean inc original Doral
 hill This hill, as corrected, would in
 crease the asstsstl valuation of thi
 county over Sl,0Oo,u00, would almos
 doublc the United Verde taxes an,
 would reduce the fax on the small pro
 duccrs. This bill throughout the Terri
 tory would rai.o mlny times as mucl
 taxes as at present. For instance,
 am informed it would raise the Coppe
 Queen some sixteen times as much. tn | (. X A.'ovcr twenty times as much, th
 \. C. n large number of times, and. oI
 the other hand, decrease little th
 taxes on inc small producers. Bu, i
 you take the governors idea, il mean
 the closing down of the present boor
 in mining and the ultimate dcstru, ! ton of the industry in this Territory.
 "Arizona has a large number of dii henltieN Co overcome to attract capita ! Ther" l7 many failure in mining her to every success; and, if you add { Inc difficulty to produce mine in Ar , Iona, inc fact that it must pay five { len times the taxes as in any oth, s mining state in the Union requires. in | result IS easily foretold. Suppose iii D governors idea should prevail, provid that all mines would be on the sam |, bhsls Cor no law can be framed othe wise) and while it might make il large mines pay a'littlc more none D the small producers, the prospcrtor would have to pay the same rate O Z m other words, every dollars worth To ore woud be charged up as assess, valuation of the mine, without conyi crlng the years of labor, the hundrc, oi thousands of dollars it took in dru $ work to get out the ore, or the co B 'o get the same to the shelter. or II Il cost of having the same treated. Il My clients, mean all of them. a m favor of any equitable propositi, ' that will tax the mines no greater thp c m other states, and to so tax the and have some regard for the mimi n industry.
 Fl 'rho mining industry is difrerc d rom any other industry. This fact $ So self'cvident that it does not ,al q any argument, other than to call mind that men must spend many wca, e' years and much money before n pr