Evening journal., 1911-10-12
EXPLAINING THE TAX LAW


ference of manufacturers and men,
oers Of the State Revenue and Taxation
commission, held in the rooms of the
Board OF Trade last night-a move
ment TO get the manufacturers of the
city and the Board Of Trade closer
together. With this in view, Presi-
dent o. G. Purdy announced that in
the near future, with the approval of
the directors of that body, he would
appoint a manufacturers COMMITTEES.
The meeting last nig't was ar
ranged so that the manufacturers Of
the city could meet with the members
of the taxation commission and dis
cuss with them the manufacturers
tax passed by the Legislature upon
recommendation of the taxation COM
mittee
Most of the manufacturers have
paid their tax and this was probably
one Of the reasons why so few of them
attended last nights meeting At the
opening of the session all the meI-
bers of the taxation commission were
present, several members of the
Board of Trade and three representa-
tives of manufacturers. The latter
were William T. Budd, of the Harlan
and Hollingsworth Corporation (;
Gorge B. Miller, of the American
Vucanized Fibre Company, and John
j. McGovern of the Trump Brothers
Machine Company. Later in the even
ing Henry Whiteley, president of the
Mccullough Iron Company. and vii
lard Speakman, of the Speakman Sup
ply and Pipe Company. appeared
There also was present Hervey Hall,
a Gamer. of Smyrna
Mr.. Purdy presided and introduced
Chairman David c. Rose. of the taxa
tion commission, who after making a
few remarks called upon Col. George
W. Sparks another member Of the
commission. TO explain the manufac-
turers' tax law. Before going into
the subject Col Sparks made the
statement that the three manufacture
present were more than the commits
sion had ever been able to get to meet
with in four years. He called atten-
ton to the fact that not voice was
raised against the bill during the four
years it was in the Legislature before
being finally passed. despite notices
frequently given through the news
papers concerning 1t.
Col. Sparks read the report OF the
taxation commission Of 1903 bearing
on the subject He expressed the
opinion that the present act was the
right thing If there was to be a tax
on manufacturers. In other states
where there is no manufacturers tar
he said, other revenue more than takes
its place.
-, cy...~r-- ,a,d tbo act n, force
before the new one become operative
and also the new one, to show the dit-
ference between them. He then wen
into an explanation of real and per-
sonal property, upon which the man.
ufacturers pay the tax, there being
considerable misunderstanding rela-
tive to what constituted pers pro-
pertv. Raw --~+arial. he exnlained
was considered perso~ri n~onerty and
this seemed to be what some of the
manufacturers wanted TO know. Yet
some did not know just what consti'
tuted raw material What would b'
raw material to one, might be a i'm.
ished product-to another, Col Sparks
thought.
New York Law Broad.
Colonel Sparks said he objected to
that clause in the act, referring to a
raw material. He said tax might be
I -S3id --on. $4,000 Of raw material a
dozen times before it becomes finished
product
Mr.. Sparks read the manufacturers
tax law in force in New York which
provides a tax on everything even to
deposits of manufacturers in the banks
Il, we had a law of that kind, said
Mr.. Sparks, "the manufacturers would
be lust in making objection"
Mr.. Budd, of the Harlan and Hol-
! lingsworth Corporation, explained
that every manufacturer in the Manu-
facturers' Organization was satisfied
to pay a tax, but there was consider
able Misunderstanding over the pro-
visions of the act For instance, he
said that one clause of the act sets
forth that, everything used in the
manufacture" is 20 be taxed. He
wanted to know if this included coal
waste beltings, ETC., or say for in
stance only castings. He also said
/ that the law requires a sworn state
ment by June / which he said was
/ almost impossible to do.
Mr. Budd said there was some mis-
understanding relative to the value
of machinery and fixtures, etc, al
[ though the company with which he
/ is connected took the book value. He
didn't understand what was intended
by the actual value of personal
property" as set forth in the act
Colonel Sparks said: you solved
that question a bit ago. The actual
value in the book value"
Mr.. Miller said the act set forth
personal property. including raw ma
terial. If raw material is persona
property, he asked, what is the othe
personal property referred to.
It was explained later that an.
property not real was personal prop
erty. This included even Office furni
ture.
Mr.. Budd asked whether it woull
not be better to place a tax on tn
manufacturers, on the amount of sale
during the year, instead of under tn
present system.
Colonel Sparks replied that this wa