Albuquerque citizen. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1907-1909, 1909-05-17
EACH STATE HAS
DIFFERENT WAYS
Some of the Six Have more Et-
feCtye Methods in Use Than
the Others But They
All Get the
Money.

Washington u. c.. May ia
unique and inter, sting report dealing
with state taxation Of manufacturing,
mercantile transportation and trans
mission corporations was made pub
lie today by Herbert Knox Smith,
commissioner of corporations. That
part of the report submitted to Pres
ident TAFT concerns the six New
England states and it is expected that
other parts will be made public
later.
Careful investigation of the laws
of each state has been made by Smith
and the report presents the popular
form of digest tax laws aud methods
of administration. While the legal
document is written for the general
public rather than for lawyers, re-
view of the six systems indicates to
Commissioner Smith that the entire
subject matter is still in an unfnish-
ed condition and will need further
consideration. Smiths letter of sub
INITIAL says:
The growth of corporate wealth has
made corporate taxation the first fac
tor in the problem of state revenues.
This report gives. by states, a digest
OF taxation laws. tlte methods of dd-
ministering the same. the financial
results, and comments. 1t gives prom
inence to underlying principles rather
than to details. Although il deals
principally with law. it is not le-
gal publication. nor has it been pre-
pared especially for lawyers. 1t is
intended rather for the use of the
general public, and it will be partic-
ularly interesting to legislators and
tax officials.
The statutes have been examined
and dlgested. The proper officials in
each state have been interviewed as to
Interpretation, administration. and
financial results. No discussion of a
tax system would be Of practical |
value if based merely on the stat
utes.
The taxation of individuals is
substantially the same throughout
New England. Corporate taxation on
the other hand, shows wide diversity !
both in theory and i'm practice. Indi- |
Viduals are taxed on property. Cor |
poratons are taxed on property, or
on income. or on combination of :
both, or on sapital stock. either par |
or market value. or occasionally-as !,
in the case of telegraph and telephone !
companieS--on mileage or number of |
instruments Administration ranges |
from a system highly developed. han
died centrally by state officials with !
large powers, to no centralized adj |
mlnistration whatsoever.
Particularly interesting IS the Mas |
sachusctts taxation of corporate ex-
cess" on the market value Of stock |
less property otherwise taxed. and |
applied to all domestic corporations.
Connecticut applies this to railroads. |
adding also their bonded Indebtedness
as a measure of ability to pay taxes
Railroads are among the largest (
tax payers. In Maine they are taxed
at a graduated percentage of gross
transportation receipts; in New
Hampshire, on property, but through |
a state board; in Vermont. upon gross
earnings; in Massd chusetts, by the
state on their corporate excess
(market value Of stock less amount of
property taxed locally, and by the
towns on much of their property; i'm
Rhode Island, on real property by the
local authorities; in Connecticut on
the sum of bonded debt and market
value of stock
ptutl puDllt service corporations,
such as street railway, telegraph. tele-
phone. express car, gas. and electric
companies, are most often brought
under special and new systems of tax
alton. Taxation OF public service cor
poratiOns on gross receipts is grow I
ing in use. Maine and Vermont use
this largely; Massachusetts, Connec-
ticut and Rhode Island in part. but
New Hampshire not at all
Massachusetts alone succeeds ap-
preciably in efforts to tax specially
the manufacturing and mercantile
corporations. This state taxes the
corporation itself on its corporate ex-
cess through the state tax commits
siOner The other states make unsuc-
cessful efforts to reach this corrate
excess i'm the hands OF the share
holders through local officials. Massa-
chusetts receives over $4,000 900 from
this source; the other five states very
little.
Banks, insurance companies and