The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-01-21
Birmingham Stands to Lose
 Quarter of Million Dol ;, lars in Four Years
LANE POINTS OUT
 THE JOKER FEATURE
Many Assaults Have Been Made on the Revenue Bill and Combined Attack May Yet Result in
 an Extra Session

The fight of The city for the collection of
 the full amount of the license tax levied
 against the public utility corporations
 will. according te Commissioner A. O..
 Lane, be continued To the bitter end
 As is known. the Birmingham Water
 works company and the Birmingham Rail-
 Way, Light and Power company, acting
 on their Interpretation of section 26-f
 of the state revenue bill, have declined to
 pay the full amount of the license tax de-
 manded by the city. These corporations contend that the revenue bill provides
 that an intangible tax of per cent on
 gross receipts may be collected, but that the amount paid to municipalities for taxes on intangible property must be ap- piled as a credit on and against the H. cense tax of municipalities.
 The effort Of the city at the present time is directed against the constitutionality of that section. If, following the inves- tigation, the city is convinced that the ] section Is not constitutional action Will be taken against the. corporations in the | courts of the county. However, should | the city become convinced that the section | is constitutional an effort will be made | to bring about an extraordinary session of i the legislature for the purpose of remedy ing what the city terms an egregious | blunder.
 The effect of the section in question is | @ serious blow to the city of Birmingham | The annual license tax demanded of the waterworks company is SlS,C00. The an- l nual license tax demanded of the Bir- mingham Railway, Light and Power com pany is $52,Oo0. Judge Lane states that | unless the section is proved unconstitu- tional or some remedy is applied in case | of it's admitted constitutionality. the city of Birmingham will lose in four years s25o,OOo
 Under Way Several Weeks
 The clty's investigation into the consti- tutionality of the section has been under way for several weeks. and will not be concluded, it is probable, until several more days have elapsed. The investiga-
 ton has developed a very neat legal point The conscltution provides that in the caption of every bill is shall be stated In | unmistakeable terms what the bill con- tains. The single exception made by the constitution Is in reference to revenue bills Judge Lane stated yesterday after | noon that this exception was necessary | on account of the multitude of taxable
 properties with which revenue bills have | to do. However" stated he "the eXcep-
 ton would hardly permit the incorpora ton in the bill of subjects not germane 1 to the general object of collecting money
 for the financing of the state. Section 36F of the revenue bill deals exclusively
 with cities seeking. as it does, to limit the power of municipalities in the col lection of licenses from public utility cor porations.
 The commissioner stated that he has not fully made up his mind that the Ia aarf f ion anl He declared his intention however, Of continuing the investigation until the point is clearly established in the minds of the members of the commission
 Terrible Blow for City
 "Section 36-f of the revenue bill con- tains a terrible blow, in a financial way, for the city of Birmingham" stated l Judge Lane Unless the section is proved unconstitutional, or unless the | Legislature convenes in extraordinary session for the purpose of remedying the error, in four years the city will lose practically quarter of million I of dollars.
 But this is not the most serious as peet of the case Under that section, which is a joker the fat corporations I escape their license taxes, whereas the poor peddler Is compelled to meet his obligations of identical character. It | IS so unfd1r that It IS dlaDOlical
 ] "As originally drawn, the revenue bill contained no such section. It is my | opinion that in the general excitement which attended the closing sessions of the legislature someone slipped that | joker in. On reading the section, one will note that in every way the Bir mingham Railway, Light and Power 1 company is protected It is provided l that those corporations which shall escape license taxation are those which operate street railways, or deal in flfChts, gas or steam heating. Water | works companies are also protected The entire proposition resembles scheme that scored success, while
 many people were sleeping on their rights"
 Up to the present time the agitation Ia gainst section 36-f is confined to Br- fningham, although, as a matter of course. all other municipalities of the state are confronted with the possibility of the same Financial losses. Judge Lane stated yesterday afternoon that | he had not discussed this matter with Governor O'Neal. He declared, however, that if the unconstitutionality of the iseetion is not conclusively proved, he , will communicate with the presidents of the commissions in Montgomery Mo- l bile. Tuscaloosa and other cities, and 1 with the mayors of those municipali- | iltS WHicil nave not duOpLeu the com mission form of government. Judge Lane will endeayor to interest all other !, cities In the agitation against section 3G-f in the hope that sufficient pras- l sure can be brought to warrant Gov ernor O'Neal fin calling an extra session of the legislature.
 Many Assaults on Measure
 The planned assault of the city against the revenue bill is only an- other way of the many which have been made against the measure which. in the hour of its inception. arrayed the capitaled interests of the state against l it. As is remembered, when Governor O'Neal. after his inauguration. found l that the reports concerning the empty state treasury were painted only too accurately, he commissioned IT. Y. ] Brooke. examiner of public accounts ! to draft measure which would re- 1 lieva the state of it's financial embar- i rassment This Mir. Brooke proceeded | to do The publication of his proposed lbili created a storm of protest from one end of the state to the other and brought delegations from practically every other city to Montgomery As l q result of the universal howl~ the hin was put into the hands of com
 nittee, of which a number of men other than legislators were members, l with the result that on it's second in- troduction before the lower house it vas shorn of it's alleged drastic clauses. l Since the adoption of the bill it has l been discovered that one of its sections nr.duces a change in the system of tax