The Mena weekly star., 1911-04-27
Senator Logan win Try Again.

10 the E0lJOf or The Star.
 Dear Sir:--I think that one of the most important bills that has been introduced at this session or any other, as far as that is con- cerned, is the bill known as the Logan Back Tax Bill" As it seems to have been somewhat misunder- stood, I would be glad to explain to your readers the object of the bill. This was a bill for the purpose of catching the big corporations and tax-dodgers. There is due to- day to the state of Arkansas in back taxes from that class more than | , million dollars, and it has been declared time and time again that the laws on the statute books were inadequate to reach them. Mr. Gates, the chairman of the Arkan- sas tax commission, and one of the best lawyers in the state, declared that this bill, if it should become a law, would, without question, reach the tax-dodger.
 A similar law has been in opera ton in Mississippi for several years, and under it's operation there has been collected more than 5 mill lion dollars in back taxes, and the new state capitol of that state was built out of that money and the taxpayers were not assessed dol lar extra taxes to build it. The bill was defeated in the House, onn1 cf ff because the word real estate ap- peared in the bill, thinking that it would reach the farmer with his land. But this is not correct, for the reason that the farmer does not and cannot dodge his taxes. Every farmer knows that when his land is assessed he pays his taxes. He knows also that if he does not or has not paid on his land it would be sold by the collector for non- payment of taxes. This is plain and simple. The reason that real estate was added to the bill was because the Iron Mountain railroad owes nearly F million dollars on it's lands for the years 1873, 1874, 1875 and 1876, for which it has nev- CT paid cent. By some sleight of hand performance it has managed to keep these lands from being as- sessed, and not being on the tax books the collector could not sell them, so it can readily be seen how this bill would reach these lands and not those of the farmer. It is because the railroad not only did not pay, but in order to keep from having the lands sold for non-pay- ment, it has kept the lands off the tax books. The farmer cannot do this and does not do 1t, as his lands are assessed every year in the reg ular way. The big tax dodgers of the state are the ones the bill was after, and the ones that it will get.
 Take, for instance, the street rail- ways of Little Rock. They are pay ing today taxes on property as sessed at less than million dol- lars, and yet they have bonds and stocks to the amount of about 10 million dollars. The same in effect is true of the street railway and traction company of Ft. Smith. It is paying on less than F million dollars worth of property, I under stand yet they recently borrowed Is million dollars on their stocks and bonds. Now, of course, they must be worth 6 million dollars or they could not borrow that much. It can, therefore, be readily seen just who would be caught by this bill. Take these three corporations alone: There is due by them to the state in taxes more than a mill lion dollars, to say nothing of the large number of trusts and mort gage companies loaning money all over the state on which they have never paid cent of taxes. But the fight is not over. have re- written the bill, and am going after them again, and I have made it SC plain this time that no one can he deceived, and I expect to devote the most of my time from now un- til adjournment of the legislature in trying to get this bill through.
 Yours very truly,
 John P. Logan.