Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1912-06-01
EDITORIAL


After several elaborate conferences of the some twenty-five
gentlemen who all regents of the State University and the
State Agricultural College decided to initiate bill ask
ing even-ens of mill tax the assessed valuation Tor
permanent support.
Only three gentlemen demurred this in the face of the
fact that the people have taken referendum smaller appo
praon and spite of the fact that well informed persons
generally say the referendum will be sustained
In the conference arranged consider what to do for these
institutions of higher education there has been effort to
meet the demand of the people that these institutions be put on
a more businesslke basis.
There has been no effort trying bring any
my lopp off any nnnecessares cut out any duplication or
any attempt to make those getting professional equipment pay
something towards making these schools selfsusaining.
The decision to make permanent tax OF sevenenths OF
mill support them reached by the sstocngs the high
brow the atsaared class who know nothing about the strug
giles of the taxpayer.
The Capital Journal showed the day that the regents
nearly all rdrawng gentlemen and attorneys for the big
corporations getting five to six thousand year out OF the
taxpayers and getting two three times much as corpora
ton attorneys.
These ought to be paying income tax to the state in
stead of meeting levy larger taxes on the people
Seven-tenths of mill the valuation of this state means
round Of about hundred thousand dollars for these
two schools.
If one per of the people of the state attended these
institutions, they should have 1900 students
They have about onehrd that number in attendance and
the proposition to tax the SO 2 per cent of the people ben
eft onethird of one per cent.
The proposition preposerOus and will never be sanctioned
The people Of Oregon will Loyalty and literally support the
of higher education.
But will have to be put up to them right there will have
to be attention paid to business and common sense
There small cloud arising about the failure to collect the
indirect corporation earnings tax enacted by the grangers
in 1906
Oregon been dubbed the fool of the family and there
some grounds for assuming that the title coming.
The gangers enacted by the initiative gross earning tax
that went into effect in 1908 and would have produced enor
without creating any offices commissions
For instance by automatic action of the law the telephone
nopoy would have paid $4,000 an average for the
last five years.
The express monopoly would have paid in from $4,000 to
$4,000 for the past five yearswoud have dropped
this automatically into the state treasury with the regularity OF
a coin machine.
is hard to get any of the state house experts to es
mate what the earnings tax would have produced in the
way of revenues-but half million annually is guess.
But the fool bill that would have not cost anything for new Of
fcas and salaries had to be dched and the went at It,
The people of Oregon have nice habit of kneeng the feet
of those who kick them and kissing the hand that smte them
In return they got commissions higher taxes and their
efforts for relief from taxgorging defeated
By sustaining demurrer in 1909 learned circuit judge since
rewarded with high office decided the gross earnings tax
repealed by implication by the tax code of 1907 and the creation
of the tax commission
Under this sweeping decision all action suspended and
the big interests paid dollar of the granger tax
The legal department of the state sustained the state reasur
in not collecting the tax and did not appeal the case
against the Standard Oil company.
In the meantime the supreme court of the United States sus
tanned the granger law as being constitutional
The present state treasurer asked the state tax board to
please try to collect the earnings back aXessuns due
running into the hundreds Of thousands
The legal department of the state again held the law de-
fective in way other and nothing is being done
The Pacific States Teephone& Telegraph Co. has recently
paid several years back taxes under the granger law.
Kind Of them isn't it. when there is really effort made to
collect the gross earnings tax from anybody.