The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1907-12-30

we nave heard much about the pol.
Icy Of shifting the burden of taxation
from farmers and small home owners
by means of special taxes for state
purposes. In 1902, when this policy
average tax rate in Paulding county
was per cent. In 1906. four years
after the enactment Of the Cole and
Willis laws the average tax rate Of
Paulding &C lntv was 3.99 per cont.
Srom such relief the farmers and
snail home. owners Of panlding coun-,
ty may justly pray to be relieved.
Deprived Of Growing Basis Of Tax
The. requirement that all property
shall lie taxed on its true value inl
money by q uniform rule at uniforml
rate. depriycs the stfte of tho benefit
Of growing basis of taxation for AMI
exceedingly large ald rapidly-increas.I
ing class OF properiy-that OF public|
no such propcfiy in 1851. It g not sur.
prising TO fin gbat the cOasttutionnl|
provision on taxation. thSn adopted, |
Is unsuited to the proper taxation of
this class of property. Uali.Se all pri-|
vate. property. the property OF puhlic|
service corporations. is affected with
a public interest which readers valua-|
ton an illogical basis for its taxation.
BY giving adequate service at lowI
rates, public service cCrporations ren-l
der a service to the people of Earl
greater benefit than the people can|
gain from any amount of taxation i'll
Is possible to exact from them. AsI
The amount OF a tax must always be
taken into the account Of >operating|
expenses, the tax rate should Ue baseuI
on service charges. so that 1t may bel
known precisely what, per cent of the|
oh q a IN
With this information before them,|
the people can determine which of
two policies they will adopt--low ser-|
vice charges and no taxes; or high
service charges and correspondinglyI
high. rate of taxation. When gross|
earnings from service. charges Isl
adopted as the sole basis of taxation|
amount Of the tax can be determined
by mathematical rule, thus eliminat-|
ing the crude and unsatisfactory
method of determining the amount of
the tax by judicial discretion exer.|
cised by a multitude OF assessors, and|
the tax will bear a recognizable rela-|
ton to service charges.
Gross-earnings has the additional
advantage OF being growing basis|
for taxation, thus increasing autOmat-|
ically and without friction the amount
of the tax paid. This is clearly shOwn|
Dy comparing the growth or the grandI
duplicate with the growth of the gross|
earnings of public service corpora
tions used as a basis for assessing the|
state excise tax for ten years. FROM
1896 (when the excise tax was first|
assessed) to 1906, as follows:
Per CT.
Increase of grand. duplicate. -. 2s.G4I
Increase OF gross earnings. .l19.S2|
This shows how great a gain would
have been made for the people II, in|
1896, instead of attempting to secure|
increased revenue from public servlce|
corporations by the imposition of an|
excise tax on gross earnings OF ono
half of one per cent increased to one|
per cent In 1902, an investigation had
been made to determine what perl
cent on gross earnings was being paid
for taxation, state and local, and
adopting that per cent for a gross
earnings tax In lieu OF all other taxa
tion. This would have substituted al
rapidly increasing for slow growing|
basis for taxation. II would also haveI
removed all cause OF friction betwcen|
public service corporations and taxi
assessors, all opportunity for bribery
or corruption
Continu.d d on Page Seven.