Bisbee daily review., 1907-01-22
WHAT KIND OF
 A BULLION TAX?


 portant bill to be introduced at the present session of the legislature, which convened at Phoenix yesterday, will be the bullion tax bill. A bill by this name has been introduced bn several legislatures in the past, but has invariably met with defeat. Its defeat, usually. could be traced to the lobbyists, paid by the big mining com paines for that, purpose. At other times its defeat was due to the fact that the bill was drawn, and sought to be passed, by men who had no knowl- edge of the mining industry in Arizona, their sole object being to 'cinch" the corporations. Between these two ex- tremes the plodding legislator, who honestly favored a revision of our revenue laws, was caught between the devil and the deep sea" and the bullion tax bill was allowed to die an ignominous death in some committee room.
 The attempt of the Territorial Board of Equalization to raise the assessed valuations upon patented mining claims in the territory, followed by numerous law suits, some of which have been tried while others are still pending in the courts, has at least served to arouse public interest in the present method of assessing mines in this ter ritory. The efforts of the Territorial Board, SO far, has gone for naught. The several counties and the territory Is not any richer by their action. The authority of the Board to take action, in the manner that it did, has been raised. The claim Is made that mines in one county are unequally assessed, as compared with mines in other coun- ties, and the conclusion is a multipli- cation of injunction suits and appeals to the supreme court of the United States.
 Thus far no producing mining com pany in Arizona has come forward with the claim that their property was assessed for more than its value. No such claim could honestly be made. ! but they do claim that producing companies in the several counties should be assessed alike, according to their production, or on some other | equitable basis. The Review is in- formed that majority of the mining companies in Arizona at the present time favor the bullion tax plan of tax ing the mines. Certainly this is the only real basis of value. The system, at present in use in this territory, whereby the Assessor in each county Is the judge of the value of patented mining claim, whether 1t is produce of ore, or a non-producer, is nothing more or less than the coarsest kind of guess work. For instance, by what method of reasoning or computation can Assessor Charles R. Howe of Co chise county place valuation upon the Irish Mag patented mining claim of the Calumet & Arizona company, or any other patented mining claim oi any producing mining company ID the county:
 Tn amending the revenue laws of the territory. in order to more equally assess the producing mining compa nies of the territory, great care should be exercised. The bill for this pur pose should be introduced at the earliest date. and time given for hear ing of interested parties before the committee in the legislature having the bill under consideration. The Ter ritory of Arizona at the present time .needs a bullion tax law, but in pass ing the bill 1t is just as important to see that no real damage Is done to Arizona's leading industry. In gen ] eraJ the bullion tax law should be the