Graham guardian., 1913-01-31

strictly tax law, and so long as
none of the Constitutional rights of
the citizens are violated in the direc-
tions prescribed for enforcing the
tax. the Legislation is of supreme
authority.
The Statutes of the State of Ari-
zona, provides, that all real and
personal property shall be assessed
at its cash value for the purpose Of
taxation, requiring the taxpayer to
list the same. under oath as to the
correctness Of the said list and pro-
viding that the Assessor shall place
valuation thereon. This seems at
first view to be just and equitable
and in such be ief that it is just, it
has been steadfastly adhered to not
withstanding the many and various
difficulties attending it. These diff
ficulties are numerous but perta n
for the most part, to the assessment
and taxation of personal property,
the individual, except under. com.
pulsion would not consent to disclose
that which IS not open to. public in
spection. Few persons will volun-
tarily make complete list of their
affairs to the public, and still fewer,
have their affairs in such shape that
public officers can make a correct
inventory or varify the list returned
Of their possessions. The assesz-
ment of personally therefore holds
out constant and very powerful
temptations to defraud the State
and County by concealing the knowl-
edge of everything which the tax
payer believes cannot easily be dis
covered. This is so we'll understood
that it is scarcely expected that citi-
zens will voluntarily state what they
possess. AS an example of the above
unjust method of taxation, in the
county which | represent, we have
several large mining companies,
some of which are dividend payers
and have been for many years, whose
holdings represent over Is per cent
of the entire taxable wealth of the
County. Now it would be unjust
for one to say that the managers of
these Companies demand a salary of
less than S10,000.00 each per annum,
on account of. the position they oc-
cupy, the total amount of taxes paid
to the County for the year 1912 by
the Managers of two Of these COM
panies was less than $1,000 for both.
The assessment of Mines and
their Products" could we'll be COM
pared and placed in the same class
with the assessment of personal prop.
erty in many ways, for unler the
present Statutes, minerals enter into
the valuation of the lands or mine
in which they are deposited. l be-
lieve this law is absolutely impossible
of just enforcement as the Assessor
or any other taxing officer can have
no reliable information as to the
mineral in the ground, much less it's
value. which depends upon the
quantity and quality of the mineral
or deposit, cost of mining and other
matters that would require the
highest expert knowledge.
Since becoming taxing officer
some eight years ago, l have devoted
much time to the study Of taxation
in its many forms, | believe now the
same as have for many years past
that the solution for the correcting
of many evils, would be the enact
ment of a law, granting Assessors
unlimited power in obtaining in
formation regarding property sub
ject to Taxation in order that the
of any assessment re-
turned by taxpayer could be veri-
fed or the enactment of a gross in
come tax law, covering certain
classes of property, such as personal |
etc.
| consider the production of the
yariops minerals extracted from the
mines Of this Stale sho4ld be rlassed |
rs personal property and taxed as
such. The products of a mine when |
extracted and brought to the surface |
cease to be part Of that mine any
onger and should be treated as
such for assessment purposes. |
believe the land of mining property
should be assessed as Other al prop
,rty is assessed in some classifed d
manner and would suggest some
hing as follows: Non-patcnted
Jon preaHcing mines, non-patended
mines. patentfd non-pro-
iucing mines, patented predicting, 4
surface of mining claims, including
n addition all forms of general
ownership in fee or otherwise, where
he same pertains to mineral land.
Non patented, non-pro1ucing min
ng claims, as every one knows, in
accordance with our statute, the
'wner must perform $4,000 worth
If work or expend this amount iR
of some nature there's
IN. This you could say should be
reated in the same form and man
ler as the listing of other personal
for taxation and it seems
IS though it should be subject to
axation. affording the owner more