St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1912-12-11
LONG TAX DEBATE
House Spent Most Of Two Days on
Subject but Took no Vote. An
Educational Commission.

tax problem before it in a serious
way last week but after two days o.
debate in committee of the whole
the house reported NO progress and
the committee was dissolved. 1t is
probable the matter will be resumed
when the house takes up as spec
ial order Senate bill No. "a, winch
provides for the exemption OF al
money loaned on real estate at q
rate of interest not exceeding five
per cent.
The debate last week was in the
bill hxing a fiat rate on intangibles.
E. A. Cook OF Lyndon, a MEMBER OF
the ways and means committee tooh
a prominent part in the debate op-
posing the bill. When the matter
was taken up Mr.. Cook moved thai
the bill be amended by cutting out
several sections and by substituting
senate bill, known IS the i've per
cent. bill in place of section one.
This provided for the exemption of
money loaned at five per cent on real
estate mortgages together with The
! limiting of oHsets to S 1000.
Mr.. Jose of Johnson wanted
amendment amended by strik-
out section one and sub
shutting therefor a House bin
of which he was author, which
provides that no tax snail be assess
ed on a mortgage on real estate 10
Gated within this state. He be1eYed
greater margin than one per cent.
must be offered in order to ger mon
ey from tho 5 to invest in real
estate mortgages. Only AZ towns
have a tax rate of less than $l.3O
and most of these are small towns.
If offsets should be abolished $780,
100000 would come into the tax
able property list. The intangible bill
ieals with Wall street securities. Ii
people are getting by now without
paying on such property they will
continue to do so.
some contended that if offsets
were abolished, and only tangible
property is taxed, the grand list Of
the state would be increased $780,
100000. Mr.. McGrath of Georgia
favored the fiat rate bill, and oppos-
ed the amendments. All agreed that
me present tax system was all wrong
and many thought the money is now
put into banks or invested outside
the state to keep it from the listers
and therefore have no tax to pay on
it. They asserted that was the rea-
son savings deposits were growing
so fast.
Cook Changed His Mind
Mr.. Cook of Lyndon, as a member
of the ways and means committee,
had earlier in the session favored
the fat rate bill, but has changed
his mind and feels that the i've per
cent law, if enacted, would benefit
the majority of towns in Vermont.
He had found there were about
100000 of taxable intangibles in
his town of Lyndon. About 100000
was in the village of Lyndonville
and practically all of the other
100000 N the two other villages
in his town. The town was getting
about 4,5v0 from taxation on such
property.
At seven-tenths of one per cent.
the town would get only about
S1,7OO. In addition to the loss
which the town would sustain,
would be the losses which the incor-
would also sustain.
He believed that if this fiat rate
bill were passed that there would be
no appreciate increase of intangi-
bles and that two years hence the
voters of the state would demand
the repeal of the law, as they would
find themselves in a worse condition
than they are today.
According to an investigation
made under direction of the legisla-
ture, it was found that the intan-
gibles in &c towns and cities of the
state amounted TO almost $1,000, ZOO
and that the offsets amounted to al
most S9OOO.u00. The offsets for
1910 in the state amounted to $33.-
100000 and the entire personal
property to S45, 100000. He explain
ed the five per cent bill at some
length.
No Adjournment by Christmas
Senator johnson of Franklin in
troduced y a resolution fixing final
adjournment for Dec "a but the
Senate did not agree with him. IT
will be impossible to finish then for
there are in the revision committee
hands go House bills and 26 Senate
bills of which only 16 are city and
village charters. There is also an
other codifcation of laws to be gone
through and the codification of the
fish and game is again in the revi-
sion committees hands and will re-
suit in committee bill. The origi-
nal one has been much changed
There are also in the House COM
mittee $50 bills and the Senate has
about rs of it's own bills. IF they
were to pass or kill on Is bills per
day they could not finish up by
Christmas.
The Oleomargerine bill is Icing
fought bv the farmers and those
buying butter. There is a feeling
that the bill should have been re-
ferred 70 the committee on industrf-
al interests instead of the agricul-
ture.
The bill relating to the charter Of
e. and T. Fairbanks and company
has passed the House.
CONTINUED on page A