East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1911-01-31
Proposed Change in Tax Sys-
tenn Contains Dangerous
"Nigger in WoodplIe."
STATE MAY COLLECT
CORPORATION TAXES
If Adopted Change Would Work An
nual Loss of 100000 to Umatilla
County I'm View of Judge Maloney
Would Aid Multnomah and Inter-
ior Counties.

That there is 'nigger in the wood
pile" in the move that is fostered by
the senate committee on taxation to
have the people vote upon a general
tax amendment to the constitution 10
the belief of local county officials.
The particular Ethiopian in this case
lies in the fact that the amendment
if adopted may place the taxation Of
public service corporations directly in
the hands of the state instead of with
the counties as at present.
Was Voted Down.
The amendment proposed in the
senate is very similar TO one of the
amendments the people voted down
last November said Assessor Strain
today At the time few people real
lied the fact but that amendment
No. 312 on the ballot, would have
made it possible for the state to take
the taxation of the corporations away
from the counties. Such a course
would work great injustice on coun-
i ties like Umatilla, that have much
mileage. and it would inure to the
! benefit of Multnomah."
Corporations Pay Much,
To illustrate Mr.. Strains point it
may be cited that at this time Uma-
tilla county collects approximately
$50, 900 per annum from public SER
vice corporations. Last year the o.
+. & ~ paid S71,904; the Northern
1 Pacific, s10035: the Pacific express
company, $3.50; the Pacific Telephone
& Telegraph company, s143S.91 the
Pullman company. S364.05; the West
ern Union, S503.S9; Interstate Tele-
phone company, S12O.79; the Walla
Wala Traction company, s47S; and
/ the Pacific Light & Power company,
$3151.
Should the state instead of the
county collect this money Umatilla
county would suffer thereby. OF
course the state taxes would be low
cred as a result of the states collect
ing the corporation money. But even
should Umatilla county be entirely
excused from payment OF state taxes
this county would still be loser. This
year Umatilla county's total state
tax amounts to only s64,395.
Maloncy Gives Warming.
at is my opinion" said County
Judge Maloney today, that such
change in the system of taxation
would mean a loss of approximately
100000 per year to Umatlla county.
1t would mean a similar loss to other
counties having considerable railroad
mileage as has this county. The
change would work to our injury and
for the benefit of counties like Multi
nomah and the interior counties that
have little or no mileage"
To Fight Change.
Active steps towards opposing the
proposed change have already been
taken at the instance of Judge Ma
Iloney and others. President w. L
Thompson of the Commercial associ-
alton, has written members of the
Umatilla delegation calling their at
tention to the danger TO Umatilla
county lurking in the proposed meas
ure and he has asked the senators
and representatives to take notice Of
the same.
If the resolution is passed by the
senate the matter will again be sub
mitted to the people at the next gen.
eral election. However, II is evident
that the resolution, If successful, will
have to overcome the opposition of
delegations from Umatilla and many
other counties that have much rail-
road mileage.