The diamond drill. (Crystal Falls, Iron County, Mich.) 1887-1996, 1909-12-04


paying mine has made necessary
Suppose several paying mines exist
ed in the locality and one company
decides 10 close LIS property and hold
It's product for higher market or to
entrench itself in business and keep mp
the value Of It's manufacturing plant.
Would II be equitable II that property
were allowed to escape taxationl
These are not manufactured in
stances they are real live conditions
that exist right here in this locality
and exist In every locality in this pen
insula.
Suppose the mine is operated by a
consuming company-some are and
some are not. The consuming COM
pany, under Saturday Nights scheme.
feels that It Is paying too much tax on
its mining end. How easy 1t would be
10 lower the profits of the mine and
increase the profits of the manufactur-
ing end--located. perhaps, in lower
Michigan where taxes are assessed I'D
valorem.
We have so far been considering the
equitable side OF this question only
from a local standpoint. Let's consid-
or II between property located In the
upper peninsula and property located
in the lower peninsula
II you are going TO capitalize profit
In one industry. why not In oil. Some
mines make large profits, that's true,
but 30 do some manufacturing con-
Germs automobiles for instance. A
mine Is an instituion.that Is constantly
shrinking in value No matter how
far removed that day may be. the end
is always In sight A miner cannot
keep his plant up from q sinking fund
he can't put ore into the ground. In
fact a mine may show the highest net
profit on the years work the last year
Of it's existance when the pillars arc
being taken out and the mine abandon
ed as worthless. Yet. during this year
the owner would pay tue highest tar
rate at the very time that his original
investment would be shrinking to
nothing.
How about the manufacturer he
invests his money in building. mach
inery. tools. etc. His tax is to be as
sessed on the actual cash value OF those
forms OF property. His business is al
ways worth it's assessed value and gen.
orally Is increasing in value. Is this
equitable2
When Mr.. Nimmo established Satur-
day Night ne invested a certain sum OF
money in taxable property. Foi the
sake Of argument well say he erected
a building, bought linotypes. etc.
When the assessor comes around his
property Is assessed at its true cash
value" at what IL would fetch were IL
sold In the market His building is
worth 80 much. II would be worth
Just AS much should he decide to dis
continue his newspaper and start lace
factory therein.
But, in Saturday Night Mr.. Nimmo
has a winner. The business is worth
much more than the bare investment
because Mr.. Nimmo's personality has
made IL pay. Yet he pays only on the
cash value OF the wood, iron, labor. etc
that is represented by his plant Does
he mean that his business is worth
only the amount ii ia assessed at No.
not for a minute There Is a non-tax-
able element there--good will Of the
business that ism n represented by wood
or iron and can { be duplicated by any
other man than Mr.. Nimmo Does
Mr. Nmmo mean to tell us that ne
favors putting a tax on genius, on per.
sonaI effort. on SUGGEST
John Smith starts newspaper in
the same block and models IL along the |
same lines. He investes the same
amount OF money in the venture bnt II !
is failure because John Smith isn't !
industrious he lacks the knowledge
OF the business and he's dishonest.
Would Mr. Nimmo advocate taxing his
own business because II showed pro-
at TO make up for the loss Of taxes on
Mr.. Smiths plautr
But. suppose that Mr. Smith, instead
OF starting a newspaper in the same
block With Mr.. Nimmo. decided TO
come north and invest his money In
exploring he perfects himself In the
business Of mining just as Mr. Nimmo
did in newspaper work and. after
term OF apprenticeship, he starts out
He makes careful study Of certain
Geld and decides that on certain forty
he has show to tnd ore. He invests
in that exploration exactly the same
amount that Mr. Nlmmo did in his
newspaper business. He finds ore aud
developes mine. He's making
money out Of his mine-just the same